Manker talks about considering run for Illinois Attorney General

By Gary Scott on September 26, 2017 at 7:50am

With the announcement last week that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan would not be seeking re-election, one local attorney says he considering a run at the soon-to-be vacant position.

Local attorney Tyson Manker recently formed an exploratory committee to investigate the possibility of running for that very position. While he has yet to officially announce his candidacy, Manker says he’s been encouraged by some of his supporters to run, and explains that one of his main concerns is public corruption.

“Since (Madigan announced she wouldm’t be seeking re-election), a number of friends and supporters have asked me to run, so I am considering it at this point. I know that the state of Illinois has some serious issues that the previous administrations and Attorney Generals have failed to take seriously. I believe corruption in the public sector is at the top of the list. We had a situation in South Jacksonville over the last couple of years that the Attorney General failed to take a look at, and I think that is reflective around the state. Public corruption is an issue that needs to be taken seriously by the next Attorney General, Manker says

This wouldn’t technically be Manker’s first campaign for political office. In 2016, he ran for Morgan County State’s Attorney, a race eventually won by current State’s Attorney Gray Noll.

Manker has a military background and has long been an advocate of Veterans’ rights. Manker himself is a veteran of the Iraq war, where he served as an infantryman in the Marine Corps. He talks about some of those issues, and what he would bring to the table as a candidate for Attorney General.

“When you talk about Veteran’s issues, when you talk about victims of crime, these are not political experiences, these are experiences of my life that cannot be taught, that cannot be boiled down to a talking point like we see time and time again. So I’m here to offer an honest, authentic alternative, and if people are sick and tired of the status quo, then I offer my candidacy for them to support,” says Manker.

While Manker ran as a Democrat in the 2016 Morgan County State’s Attorney race, he has said that he would run as an independent were he to seek election for Attorney General. Manker explains how that decision came about.

“I’ve always truly been an independent, I’ve never liked partisan politics. And I think there are certain limitations from the current Republican and Democrat candidates. I hope that we can break through the stalemate that is plaguing Illinois politics, and I think the Attorney General has an important role not only on the policy side, but also using the office to push certain issues,” Manker explains.

In order to qualify for a spot on the ballot, Independent candidates for Attorney General must collect 25,000 signatures, and Manker says he is confident that he will be able to do so. If Manker does reach the 25,000 signatures and decides to officially step into the running for the position, his competition as of now would be Republican candidate Erika Harold of Urbana, and Democratic candidates Kwame Raoul of Chicago and State Representative Scott Drury, the only Democrat that did not support Michael Madigan’s 17th consecutive bid for Speaker of the House.