Working for Illinois Caucus

The election for the 76^th District in the Illinois House of Representatives is getting a lot of notice mainly because both political parties have identified it as a high priority. It’s a mainstream district that elected union Democrat Lance Yednock, who opted to step away from Springfield last year. The 76^th is a bellwether district, including MAGA voters and the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

The race between the two nominees is notable for its featuring two women candidates – Republican Liz Bishop and Democrat Amy Murri Briel. Each has hit the airwaves with ads criticizing the other. One of Bishop’s ads, paid for by Illinois House Republicans, uses Briel’s own words from her podcast a few years ago:

WLPO talked to Briel on Friday, to get her response. Out of fairness, WLPO points out that Briel paused for significant periods before answering with this:

Briel says that learning things is a big part of the job of legislating. This includes things like evaluating how money is spent in different ways, such as tasking law enforcement with managing mental-health-crisis calls. For her part, Briel has cast this race in terms of defending women’s rights. One of her ads says this:

WLPO has reached out directly to Murri Briel to ask the name of the organization. She has not replied.

While we don’t know the identity of the group Briel has referenced, WLPO did ask Bishop about how the MAGA movement will impact the race.

Bishop last week announced her endorsements by current and former sheriffs from La Salle, Bureau and DeKalb Counties.

You can hear the full interviews WLPO News did last week with both Bishop and Briel. Just click below.