Metro East Sun

Illinois State Rep. Ryan Spain (R-73) is part of an opposition movement from House Republicans against a Democrat sponsored election bill that was not put before voters. 

The bill, SB2412, was amended, filed, and assigned to a House committee on May 1, and just a few hours later was brought to a vote on the House floor. There was no time or advertisement for constituents to be able to learn about the impact on elections and make their thoughts known to representatives. 

House Republicans joined together in a vote of “present” for the bill to draw attention to the unusual expediency of the bill.

"IL Republicans are slating Former Chief of Police, Jay Keeven for the 112th House seat against Katie Stuart," former Illinois House candidate Jennifer Korte said in a post on X. "Katie Stuart is scared she will lose her seat. She knows she is too extreme for IL. So the Democrats file a bill to prevent the slating of candidates."

Spain made public comments afterwards, backed by the House Republicans. “Today is a new low for Democrats in the state of Illinois,” Spain said. “It's so low because it is absolutely disingenuous the way that they conduct themselves and the business of the people in the state of Illinois.”

“What you saw today was a phony attempt to solicit feedback from voters that was covering up the real intentions of the Democrats bill upstairs, which is to eliminate competition in our elections,” Spain said. “Democrats want to disenfranchise voters so that we can continue to not have competitive elections through the state of Illinois.”