IL GOP Nominee Drops Out
New Lenox Mayor and Chicago Ridge police chief Tim Baldermann, who won the Republican primary on February 5 in the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Jerry Weller, is dropping out of the race, Roll Call's Matt Murray reports. A source close to the campaign told Murray the candidate didn't have the "time or energy" to run a campaign.
The GOP nominee had shown considerable reluctance to raise the money necessary to run a winning campaign. Baldermann, who once looked like a promising candidate, had only raised about $104,000 through mid-January. By contrast, State Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, the Democratic nominee, had raised more than $425,000 through the same period and maintained almost $400,000 in the bank.
Weller's Eleventh District is anchored south of Chicago and stretches from the shores of Lake Michigan through Joliet and sends fingers west and south through the state. Only marginally Republican -- President Bush won the seat by seven points in 2004 and just two points in 2000 -- it offers Democrats the best chance to pick up a seat in Illinois.
Baldermann is the second candidate to drop a bid after filing in Illinois. Former basketball coach Dick Versace, a Democrat who was running to replace outgoing Rep. Ray LaHood in a district that borders Weller's to the southwest, dropped out for what he described as personal reasons.
Despite his poor fundraising, Baldermann's exit is bad news for Republicans. The party may now appoint a replacement candidate, though the timing and method by which to do so is unclear. No other top candidate ran for the seat in the primary, and if Republicans can't find a candidate able to compete with Halvorson, Weller's seat will become one of their best pickup chances in the country.