A Republican candidate based out of Pittsfield is hoping to make a run at Illinois’ 100th House District in next week’s primary election.
While State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer has held his position in the 100th District since December of 2012, Pittsfield businessman Jonas Petty is looking to unseat the Jacksonville-based incumbent come Tuesday.
In terms of why Petty has decided to hit the campaign trail, he says he feels there are plenty of potential goals that the 100th District can attain despite the strong Democratic presence in Illinois’ House of Representatives.
“As someone who has grown a business in the district, and I would always go to all of the Republican events, and I just kept hearing, ‘Mike Madigan’s in charge, there’s nothing we can do.’ And we have grown a company successfully in west central Illinois, here in the 100th District, and to me, I just believe there is so much more that we can do, and so that’s what prompted me to put my name on the ballot,” explains Petty.
Petty says there are things that can be accomplished in the 100th House District through legislation, and that he’s laid out several plans to do so.
“Mike Madigan holds us down legislatively, that is, if you have a bill, he can say ‘we’re not going to put it up for a vote.’ But there’s so much more we can do as a leader for the district, so I put together my education plan, a seven-point education plan, a seven-point economic development plan and a seven-point welfare reform plan. And these are all areas that I believe we can move the district forward, without Mike Madigan’s permission. So that’s basically the essence of my campaign,” Petty says.
If elected, Petty explains how he specifically plans to work with politicians on the other side of the aisle to achieve some of his previously-mentioned goals.
“It doesn’t do any good to use the political talking points. What does work is, when I have areas, whether it be in education or business, what I have the opportunity to do when I success at that, is I get to go to that legislator in Cook County, or some of these more liberal areas and say, ‘let me help you, let me give you a guide to what can work.’ And people respect that so much, because to me, I’m output-based, I don’t do politics. You’ve got to get results or you’ve got to get out. So that’s how you can cross that aisle,” Petty explains.
Petty’s work background includes several years with IDOT’s Bureau of Bridges & Structures, and as co-owner of J. Petty & Co. based out of Pittsfield.