Frank Lesko to take on Doris Turner

Republican Sangamon County Recorder Frank Lesko announced Tuesday that he will run for the state Senate seat now held by Doris Turner.

Lesko was elected recorder last year when he defeated incumbent Josh Langfelder by 31 votes with more than 100,000 cast. Before being elected recorder he served as the Springfield city clerk.

Turner, a Democrat, was initially appointed to fill the seat vacated by Andy Manar after he took a job working for Gov. JB Pritzker. She was elected to the post in 2022 when she defeated then-state Rep. Sandy Hamilton with 51% of the vote.

The district leans slightly Democratic. Kamala Harris carried it with a margin of 1.2% over President Donald Trump in 2024. Despite this, Republicans expressed optimism about Lesko’s chances.

“Frank Lesko has demonstrated his tireless work ethic, a deep commitment to public service and an ability to bring common sense leadership to local government,” Senate GOP leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said at a campaign kickoff event held Aug. 26 at United Contractors Midwest.

 “He has never forgotten that government’s job is to serve the people, not the other way around. He knows firsthand the concerns of working families, taxpayers and seniors. His campaign will focus on lowering costs for working families, protecting your hard-earned dollars and bringing accountability needed to state government,” Curran said. “Taking back this seat is one of our top priorities, and Frank Lesko is the candidate who can win.”

Lesko ran for recorder on the platform of eliminating the office and making its responsibilities part of the county clerk’s office.

“My biggest accomplishment, I think, is merging the offices and saving the county taxpayers many, many dollars,” he said. “That’s been one of the huge accomplishments that I’ve made. And I believe that the taxpayers are going to see it. They’re going to see a government downsized, operating more efficiently. (It’s) just a better way to do business.”

However, Sangamon County Board member and attorney Tony DelGiorno challenged that assertion, noting that Lesko originally intended to wait to phase out the office until November 2028 after serving his full four-year term. DelGiorno, a Democrat, sponsored a resolution to place a referendum on the April 2025 ballot to eliminate the recorder’s office on April 1, 2026. The measure passed overwhelmingly, with 67.5% of voters supporting it.

“Frank Lesko did nothing to support early elimination of the recorder’s office until a bipartisan majority of the County Board held his feet to the fire and voted to put it to the voters ASAP,” DelGiorno said in a written response to Lesko’s campaign announcement. “We made him keep his campaign pledge. Now he wants to be rewarded for something he didn’t initially support?”

Lesko has also come under fire for issues related to his recent transition from the city to the county. He assumed the position of county recorder Dec. 2 but did not vacate his city clerk post until more than a month later, despite several council members calling on him to resign and questioning how he could be allowed to hold two full-time jobs simultaneously.

Lesko told the council at the time, “I challenge anybody to qualify anything that hasn’t been done in the city clerk’s office. That office has been covered.”

One of Lesko’s former employees from the city clerk’s office, Nicole Cunningham, followed him to the county. Lesko, who campaigned on a platform of saving taxpayers money, tried but failed to give her a 15% raise to become his second-in-command. Both Democrats and Republicans on the GOP-controlled County Board’s Building and Grounds Committee pushed back on the proposed $80,000 pay level, and the panel reduced the amount to $72,000 before approving the chief deputy clerk salary.

Lesko was recruited by the Senate Republican caucus to run for the post.

Sangamon County Democratic Chairman Bill Houlihan was not as sanguine about Lesko.

“They have nobody else in their farm team that’s willing to take on a tough candidate,” he said.  “And in my opinion, it’s likely Frank was probably their fifth choice, and he was the first one that said ‘yes.’”

Lesko has spent his career working for government at the city, county and state levels. He has also served elected terms as the Ward 4 alderman for the Springfield City Council and as a Springfield Park District trustee.

Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, compared Lasko to Abraham Lincoln.

“I’m from Springfield, and you know, public service is a good thing,” he said. “People that are in public service for the right reasons are people that we should support and help and also be proud of. And you know, Abraham Lincoln spent a large portion of his life in public service and he was a great man. That’s the person who many of us idolize in the Springfield area. And I think it’s a good, noble thing to be in public service as long as you’re in it for the right reasons.”