A familiar face has stepped forward to run for the General Assembly seat that was likely to be Avery Bourne’s in November.
Bourne announced Monday that she is running for Lieutenant Governor alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin, the current Mayor of Aurora.
Wayne Rosenthal of Morrisonville has announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the new 108th District representative seat. The new district carved out of the old 95th District covers all of Menard and portions of Christian, Macoupin, Montgomery, and Sangamon counties.
Rosenthal previously served in the General Assembly between 2011 until his resignation in January 2015 when former Governor Bruce Rauner named him as the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Rosenthal had announced back in November that he was going to seek a State Senate seat and possibly primary fellow Republican Steve McClure in the newly drawn 54th District.
In his announcement yesterday, Rosenthal says he’s already received endorsements from 87th District State Representative Tim Butler, Congressmen Rodney Davis, Darin LaHood, and Mike Bost, and former State Representative Mike Murphy.
Murphy resigned from the General Assembly at the end of November, refusing to primary against Bourne, a long-time friend. Murphy said at the time that he viewed Bourne as a leader in the Illinois GOP.
WCIA’s Mark Maxwell reports that he asked Murphy weeks ago if he was happy about his resignation, and Murphy said he was happy with his choice and wouldn’t re-enter the General Assembly if Bourne chose to seek a higher office.