GOP state Rep. Jeff Keicher voted to fourth term: AP calls race

SYCAMORE – Incumbent state Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, is expected to represent the 70th Illinois Senate District for a fourth consecutive term after The Associated Press called the race in his favor at 1:06 a.m. Wednesday.

Keicher will hold on to his seat in the Illinois House of Representatives after amassing 35,869 votes, or 60.1% of the district with 98% of votes counted, according to unofficial vote tallies. Randi Olson of Cortland, a first-time Democratic Party challenger, received 23, 851 votes, or 39.9% of the district. Election results aren’t certified for two weeks.

Although the race wasn’t called until early Wednesday morning, Keicher said he went to bed confident he’d be reelected. That was only after seeing preliminary vote totals Tuesday night, however.

“I personally never feel 100% secure, which is why we take all the effort that we do to connect with our constituents. I don’t take anything for granted,” Keicher said.

The 70th District extends from west of Sandwich through predominantly rural areas of eastern DeKalb County and western Kane County to southern McHenry County, between Huntley and Lake in the Hills. The district also includes all or part of Sycamore, Cortland, Hampshire, Burlington, Kaneville and Big Rock.

The now four-term state legislator said he was less concerned about his chances in the 2024 election than he has been in previous elections because of how the 70th District was redrawn in 2022.

“It’s all rooted in the gerrymandering that occurred two years ago,” Keicher said. “And [Democratic state legislators] drew this map to make it as Republican as they could, because they needed the Democrat votes syphoned off over into DeKalb to have the results that we see over there today.”

The race for the 76th District seat, which represents DeKalb and Ottawa, still was too close to call with 89% of the votes counted as of 1:22 p.m. Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. Democratic Amy Briel was ahead with 21,646, or 50.8% of the district, while Republican Liz Bishop trailed with 20,995 votes, or 49.2% of the district.

Keicher said he’s viewing his decisive electoral victory as validation that the focus of his office aligns with the values of the district.

Now preparing for another two-year term in office, Keicher said he’s going to focus on finding ways to pay for programs such as Meals on Wheels, adults with disability programs and sexual assault centers that he said are underfunded in lieu of “new and flashy programs.”

Keicher said he wants to help the state find ways to pay for programs and services that were committed to decades ago, as opposed to newer, less-tried initiatives, but he also wants to see job growth.

He said legislators need to aggressively work on finding ways to making Illinois more friendly to job creators.

“Had we grown at the same rate as the surrounding states around us for the past 20 years, we would have a million more people in Illinois today than we do,” Keicher said. “Imagine what that would do for job opportunity, education [and] property tax would be pushed down because we have more people for sharing the burden.”