Illinois's 14th congressional district special election, 2008

Illinois's 14th congressional district special election, 2008

March 8, 2008 (2008-03-08)

Nominee Bill Foster Jim Oberweis Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 52,205 47,180 Percentage 52.53% 47.47%

Representative before election Dennis Hastert Republican Elected Representative Bill Foster Democratic

After the resignation of Republican Party United States Congressman Dennis Hastert from his Illinois's 14th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives on November 26, 2007,^[1] a special election was held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the 110th United States Congress.

Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich set the special election date for March 8, 2008. The Democratic and Republican parties held special primary elections on February 5, 2008. Democrat Bill Foster won the election on March 8, 2008.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Bill Foster, physicist and business owner
• John Laesch, 2006 Democratic candidate for Congress
• Jotham Stein, attorney

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

• Jim Oberweis, 2002 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, 2004 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, 2006 Republican candidate for Governor, owner of Oberweis Dairy
• Chris Lauzen, Illinois State Senator

Campaign

Chris Lauzen officially began his campaign on September 19, 2007.^[3] Rudy Clai officially entered the race on October 7,^[4] but withdrew less than a month later, citing dysfunction within the Illinois Republican Party.

The race was very competitive between Lauzen and Oberweis. On January 15, 2008, they debated at Aurora University. During the debate, Oberweis raised questions regarding International Profit Associates, a company that donated $100,000 to Lauzen's campaign and was being investigated for widespread sexual harassment and fraud.^[5]

The Chicago Tribune endorsed Oberweis, stating that had a better command on national issues.^[6] Dennis Hastert endorsed Oberweis on December 13, and Kevin Burns subsequently withdrew his candidacy.^[7] Lauzen received endorsements from the Aurora Beacon News, the Kane County Chronicle, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle and the Chicago Daily Herald.

Results

General election

Negative advertisement campaign

The race for the 14th district was marked by intense negative campaigning between the regular primary elections of February 5 and the special elections of March 8. Oberweis, with $2.3 million of his own money and an additional $1 million provided by the National Republican Congressional Committee, attacked Foster on his various political stances.^[9] Foster, with $1.8 million of his own money and an additional $1 million provided by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,^[9] countered that Oberweis had employed illegal immigrants in his retail stores.^[10]

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama appeared in a television ad for Foster that ran immediately prior to the special election. John McCain endorsed Oberweis.^[11]

Endorsements

The Chicago Tribune endorsed Bill Foster for the seat in its March 4, 2008 edition based on Oberweis' history of "nasty, smug, condescending ... and dishonest" campaigning, and Foster's position that he would be a Blue Dog Democrat.^[12] The Chicago Sun-Times endorsed Oberweis as "forceful and informed", painting Foster as "poorly informed" and unable to discuss specific issues in depth.^[10]

Results

The election of Foster over Oberweis ended a 20 year Republican streak of holding the seat. The election of Foster also brought speculation that Republicans would lose three more seats up for re-election in the November general election, resulting in a 14–5 Democratic advantage in Congress for Illinois.^[14]

Observers cited several factors explaining Foster's victory, including rapid suburbanization of Kane and Kendall Counties, Foster's position regarding the expansion of health-care and his support of immigration-reform, including a path to citizenship, and Lauzen's refusal to endorse Oberweis following the Republican primary. In contrast, Oberweis' campaign tactics were criticized, including the overuse of mass mailings and automated phone calls to remind voters of the special election.^[14] Reporter John Fund of The Wall Street Journal pointed to the failure of Lauzen to endorse Oberweis, Hastert's preference for "self-funded" but unskilled candidates, and local reviews that the NRCC ads were "nasty," "stupid," "largely incomprehensible" and "factless" as additional reasons why Foster won the seat. By contrast, Fund noted that the Democratic party spent much of its funding on an ad featuring Obama touting Foster's credentials as a physicist and problem-solver.^[15]

Governor Rod Blagojevich had scheduled the special election for Saturday, March 8 in an attempt to increase voter turnout. However, the election drew a low voter turnout, with only 22 percent of registered voters participating.^[16][17]

Although it was initially thought that Foster would not be sworn in until April due to the need to count absentee ballots before the election would be certified, he took the oath of office on March 11.^[18] On his first day in office he cast the deciding vote^[19] to keep from tabling an ethics bill that would create an independent outside panel to investigate ethics complaints against House members.^[20]

Foster's victory was the first time a House seat flipped parties in a special election since Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin won the open South Dakota at-large seat of Republican Bill Janklow in June 2004.^[21]

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2008
• Louisiana's 6th congressional district special election, 2008
• Mississippi's 1st congressional district special election, 2008

References

Elections in Illinois
Federal government Presidential elections 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 U.S. Senate elections 1885 1966 1972 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 U.S. House elections 2000 1st 2002 2004 2006 6th 8th 10th 11th 19th 2008 2010 17th 2012 2014 2016 Special elections 2nd district, 1995 14th district, 2008 5th district, 2009 2nd district, 2013 18th district, 2015
State government Gubernatorial elections 1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 State Senate elections 2008 2010 2012 2014 State House of Representatives elections 2008 2010 2012 2014 General elections 2006 2010 2014
City of Chicago Mayoral elections 1977 1979 1983 1987 1989 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Aldermanic elections 2015
City of Peoria Mayoral elections 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 Council elections 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015