Working for Illinois Caucus

Democratic State Re. Katie Stuart 112th District will face a primary opponent.

Veteran 112th District Democratic State Rep. Katie Stuart will once again have an opponent in next year’s general election.

What she won’t have is an opponent in the March 17 primary.

Halley Johnson, 20, of Granite City, filed nominating petitions Oct. 31 to be on the Democratic primary ballot. However, those petitions have been challenged by Sue Edwina Betts of Edwardsville. The Illinois State Board of Elections will conduct a hearing on Bett’s petition objections on Nov. 18.

Katie Stewart

It will likely be a brief hearing. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections Candidate Guide, anyone seeking to qualify for the 2026 primary ballot as an established party candidate must file signatures from “At least 500 but not more than 1,500 of the qualified primary electors of their party in their representative district.”

Johnson, who personally circulated all her nominating petition sheets, filed 26 sheets with the ISBE, which contained no more than 260 signatures.

Johnson said she “Brings a new standard of leadership to District 112 Granite City,” and is counting on voters “who have grown weary of waiting for relief on issues like property taxes and healthcare costs.”

Republican Jimmy Ford, an alderperson on the O’Fallon city council, filed 106 pages nominating petitions Oct. 27 to run in the GOP primary for the 112th House seat. Among those circulating petition sheets for Ford were 111th GOP State Rep. Amy Elik, R-111.

Ford owns several small businesses in the Metro East area, including a vehicle repossession business. He also volunteers as a First Officer/Diver for the O’Fallon Underwater Search and Recovery.

Ford will have a steep hill to trek. Stuart, of Edwardsville, took office in 2017 after defeating Republican incumbent Dwight D. Kay. She has held off several Republican challengers since then.

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Stuart has more than $500,000 in her war chest, and Democratic House leadership has shown it’s ready and able to pour north of $1.5 million to defend her seat, funding numerous mailers, digital ads radio and television ads.

In the deep red southern third of Illinois, there are few blue House districts, particularly in the wake of Democrats losing the 114th House district in 2022, a seat the GOP successfully defended in 2024, despite being outspent by a 6-1 ratio.

But St. Clair County, and western Madison County still have Democratic strongholds, including Stuart, and Jay Hoffman in the 113th House. Democratic House and state party leadership have made it clear they will spend big to defend those seats.

Republican House leadership had high hopes in 2024 for Jay Keeven, a former chief of police with 35 years in law enforcement and a city administrator. Keeven survived an attempt by the Democrat-dominated legislature to block his candidacy and those of others through a rapidly passed law banning those who had not won a March primary contest from being on the general election ballot.

Keeven campaigned hard, but Stuart raised more than $1.8 million in her 2024 race, while Keeven managed just over $300,000, and lost by 4,240 votes and an 8.4 percent margin. That was the same margin and vote total Stuart won by in 2022.

Stuart was able to not only send back $202,100 to Democrats for the Illinois House two weeks prior to the election, she transferred $68,500 each to LaToya Greenwood’s campaign in the 114th district, and to Friends of Marti Deuter in the west suburban Chicago 45th District.

Stuart has the support of more than fellow Democrats. In 2024, the Illinois Farm Bureau’s political PAC, which generally favors Republicans, contributed $18,600 in in-kind spending on local radio and digital ads.