The Sangamon County Republican Party has chosen a familiar face from local sports as the replacement for Mike Murphy’s unexpired term in Illinois’ 99th Legislative District in the General Assembly.
Sandy Hamilton, a Springfield realtor and former head volleyball coach for Sacred Heart-Griffin, was chosen from among a field of three candidates at a public meeting held this evening in Bradfordton.
Brenden Moore of the Decatur Herald & Review tweeted the news saying that Hamilton was chosen from a field that included Kelly Thompson, who plans to run against Doris Turner for Illinois Senate in the new Illinois 48th Senate District. Thompson, a project manager for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce-affiliated Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group, made her plans known earlier this month. Hamilton also lives in the newly drawn 48th Senate District and the newly drawn 95th House District, which will become fellow Republican State Representative Tim Butler’s district in 2022. Hamilton has not made her plans known for 2022 at this time, according to Moore.
Moore reports that Sangmon County GOP Chair Dianne Barghouti Hardwick said that Hamilton stood out because she was a “fresh face” but someone who had supported the party’s candidates in the past by working on their campaigns.
Moore also reports that Hamilton and long-time SHG football coach Ken Leonard drew national attention in September 2020 when they appeared on an episode of Fox and Friends to advocate for allowing Illinois high school sports to play amid the Covid-19 pandemic while the IHSA and Governor J.B. Pritzker had Fall sports shut down. Fall sports ended up being moved to Spring of this year as a result.