Working for Illinois Caucus

Republican donors halted campaign donations to state Rep. Jerry Long (R-Streator) after a harassment allegation. Predictably, he’s now losing ground to Democratic challenger Lance Yednock.

Since the Sept. 13 announcement that the House Republican Office would stop financially supporting him, Long’s financial support has slowed to a trickle. As of Tuesday, he has one contribution of $7,500 on file since the HRO cut him off.

Meanwhile, Democrats have pounced on Long’s intra-party woes and poured money into Yednock’s coffers. Yednock has amassed $160,000 in 19 days and was sitting on $100,000 in reserves headed into Election Day.

Long, reached by cellular telephone, issued a brief reply and expressed no surprise with the now-lopsided figures.

“Well, of course, the Republican Party is not donating to my campaign and the Democratic Party is fully funding my opponent,” Long said. “You’ll see the quarterly report when it comes out. Thank you.”

A complete financial picture was not yet in hand because quarterly statements through Sept. 30 are beginning to trickle in. As of this morning, Yednock’s quarterly statement was on file but Long’s wasn’t.

Messages left for Yednock were not returned before press time today.

Tom Collins can be reached at (815) 220-6930 or courtreporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_Court.