Republican Dennis Reboletti is trying something different
in a state legislative race: Stake out a moderate position on abortion in a
party which completely rejects that stance and in a race against a solidly
pro-choice Democrat.
Reboletti, the Addison Township Supervisor, has no GOP
primary opposition, so he’s essentially free to be the first Republican
legislative candidate in recent memory to attempt to thread this needle. No
other HGOP candidates are known to have this position, which makes the race
worth watching. It’s not going to be easy, to say the least, and a similar
tactic came up short in another major DuPage County race in 2022.
Two years ago, the Senate Democrats spent millions of
dollars to defeat former state Rep. Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, when he tried to
challenge Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, D-Western Springs. The Democrats focused
heavily on abortion rights, and Reboletti lost by almost 10 big points.
This year, Reboletti is once again trying to make his way
back to the General Assembly, challenging Marti Deuter in an open seat race
created when freshman Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass, D-Elmhurst, abruptly
announced in September that she wouldn’t run again. Rep. JLD just barely
defeated incumbent Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, by 364 votes in a 2022
race that leaned heavily on Mazzochi’s full-throated opposition to abortion.
Mazzochi also tied herself closely to seemingly every possible right-wing group
imaginable during that election and refused to cooperate with the House
Republican Organization. She had decent name recognition, which probably kept
it close, but Democratic money and the abortion issue did her in at the end of
the day.
Ladisch Douglass ran a good suburban race and Mazzochi
ran a bad one, but that was then, and now Deuter, a longtime Elmhurst
alderperson, is the one to beat. The district leans strongly Democratic at the
top. Joe Biden won it in 2020 by nine points. No statewide Republican has won
the district since Bruce Rauner took it by five points in 2018. But the
district map was drawn so heavily Democratic that it’s one of the better
chances the Republicans have.
Reboletti appeared on WIND Radio several days ago and
told host John Anthony that developments since the overturning of Roe v. Wade
have, “really bothered me.”
Reboletti said he would support allowing voters to decide
whether to approve a constitutional amendment on abortion rights. “I think that
my belief is women have that right to choose,” he said. “I don't think we
should be in the middle of that.”
Reboletti quoted former Democratic President Bill
Clinton’s oft-repeated statement that abortions should be “safe, legal and
rare,” and said he opposed public funding of abortions and that he opposes
"partial birth abortion."
The pro-choice Personal PAC has already endorsed Deuter
in the race, and it’s highly doubtful that Reboletti’s recent comments would
have made much of a difference. Personal PAC demands 100% support for its
legislation, so a middle ground would not be met with approval.
Compromise candidates have not done well nationally, and
a pro-choice middle ground came up short in another DuPage County race in 2022.
Republican Greg Hart ran ads featuring his spouse vouching for his pro-choice
stances, but Hart himself wasn’t as forceful on the issue. He lost to then-Rep.
Deb Conroy, D- Elmhurst, by two-and-a-half points. Conroy received about 18,000
fewer votes than Gov. JB Pritzker in DuPage while Hart received about 24,000
more votes than anti-abortion Darren Bailey. That may have been more about
local politics, but still.
Another important point here is that the Illinois AFL-CIO
has not endorsed either candidate so far. Unions seem to be split. The Chicago
Laborers' District Council PAC gave Reboletti a $750 contribution last October
and the state firefighters union contributed $1,000 last month, while the
Carpenters Union gave Deuter $2,000.
Reboletti reported raising just $12,600 in the fourth
quarter. He spent $7,000 including a $1,000 contribution to US Rep. Mike Bost
in his primary against far-right Republican Darren Bailey. Reboletti’s Bost
contribution appeared to be making a statement about the divide in his party
between the purists and everyone else, but that can also be easily twisted by
the other side as him supporting the 100% anti-abortion, pro-Trump Republican
Bost. Reboletti ended the quarter with just $16,000 in the bank and has
reported no large contributions since.
Deuter loaned her campaign $5,000 last quarter, raised
another $16,000 spent only $1,000 and ended with just under $20,000 in the
bank. Deuter was endorsed by DuPage County Board Chair Conroy last month.