Republican Dwight Kay underscored that he was outspent by his Democratic opponent by a margin of 7 to 1.
Republican Dwight Kay underscored that he was outspent by his Democratic opponent by a margin of 7 to 1.
Republican Dwight Kay concedes that inherent disadvantages were just too much to get the results to win his state House race in the 112th District.
“It was a tough night for Republicans all across the state,” Kay told Metro East Sun after a hard-fought campaign against incumbent Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville), who won with 55 percent of the vote. “I was outspent by a 7-to-1 margin, and most Republicans faced the same challenges largely coming from the Mike Madigan machine.”
Kay said Stuart had up to $2.4 million in campaign funds to deploy what he described as a distorted message.
“People say Madigan has never spent this kind of money before, but then he didn’t have it,” Kay said. “Governor-elect (J.B.) Pritzker pumped in so much you couldn’t keep track of it. Then they had the unions and trial lawyers all pitching in.”
Kay said it’s all part of a master plan Democrats have for locking down all of Illinois.
“I think they want to and have taken over the entire state,” he said. “They can do whatever they want to and now on top of that they have the insurance of Pritzker in the governor’s mansion.”
Kay said he tried to motivate voters to be vigilant by impressing upon them that elections have consequences.
“When the election is bought and paid for by Pritzker and Madigan, the consequences can be serious ones,” he said. “I’m a little shocked that more people didn’t listen to [the] Republicans' message about what’s coming. For some strange reason, a message that has nothing to do with kitchen table issues seems to have resonated more after people talked about those things being most important to them.”
Illinois’ 112th District includes Bethalto, Caseyville, Fairmont City, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, Shiloh and Swansea.
Alerts Sign-up