February 21, 2025
Local Editorials

Endorsement: Illinois State Rep. Dist. 63: Brian Sager

Mayor Brian Sager responds to public comment on the Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan and Program during a Woodstock City Council Meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, at Woodstock City Hall, in Woodstock. The adoption of the TIF passed with 6 votes and an abstention. (Mike Krebs)

While this is his first time running for state representative, Brian Sager is a name that those in the 63rd District and across McHenry County know. He has been mayor of Woodstock since 2005 and started on the Woodstock City Council in 1989.

Sager, a former Republican himself, is the Democratic challenger in the race. Republican incumbent Steve Reick won the seat after Jack Franks left to run for McHenry County Board Chairman in 2016.

While we agree with many of Reick's policy choices, he also showed poor judgment when he was charged with a DUI in Springfield in 2019 and when he apologized after his comments during debate of a bill to include women and Blacks on the boards of publicly held companies.

"I was offensive to everybody, including myself, and I’m sorry,” Reick said at the time.

Our Editorial Board wrote last year that Reick needed to get his act together. He has kept out of trouble since.

But we know that Sager has a long track record of being a dependable public servant, from transportation boards to the state fair to his time as a professor and then acting president at McHenry County College to his work on the McHenry County Council of Governments and the McHenry County Mayor’s Caucus.

Sager's political work dates back to starting out as Far East Trade Representative in the State of Illinois Hong Kong Office under former Governor Jim Thompson, a Republican, from 1977-1979.

He's a proven leader, he's dependable and we endorse Sager.