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John Curtis Announces Campaign for State Rep.

TSPR's Emily Boyer
John Curtis announced to a full house at the V.F.W. in Macomb that he will begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot in 2018.

A Democrat who ran an unsuccessful campaign for state representative in western Illinois will give it another shot. 

Last year, John Curtis (D-Macomb) challenged incumbent Representative Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) for the 93rd House District seat.

The election cycle was a first for both candidates.

It was the first time Hammond had faced a challenger since being appointed to the position in 2010 following the death of Representative Rich Myers (R-Colchester).

For Curtis, it was his first time running for elected office. He told a full house at the V.F.W. in Macomb that he learned a lot.

“Folks we had some amazing successes in the last campaign,” Curtis said. “We won Macomb by over 1,000 votes. We almost won McDonough County which is the heart of Republican Party in this part of the world. We went from zero to 60 and a lot of us didn’t know what we were doing. We’ve got a plan and we are going to be a lot tougher to beat this time.”

Curtis said Governor Bruce Rauner and other Republicans are undermining government and he would like to see new leadership elected next year.

“I think that we would all agree that we need a new governor and someone with some different priorities. Somebody who is willing to do the people’s work and start to solve some of the terrible problems Illinois is facing,” Curtis said.

Last election, the race for Illinois’ 93rd House District generated around $1,000,000 in political fundraising. Hammond drew in significant financial support from the state’s Republican Party and was able to outspend Curtis nearly 3 to 1.

Curtis is a farmer and the owner of Barefoot Gardens CSA in Macomb. He announced his campaign for state representative at the McDonough County Democrats annual fish fry.

Emily Boyer is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.