McHenry Times

State Sen. Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) has told informed the Senate's GOP leadership that she won't seek re-election this fall, and a Kane County news outlet has reported that she likely will resign.

McConnaughay announced her decision not to run in a June 6 letter to state Senate Minority Leader Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), which was published by Capitol Fax the same day. 

"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that I have decided to not seek re-election this fall and will instead be pursuing other opportunities," McConnaughay said in the letter. "Rest assured that as long as I remain a state Senator, I will be doing my utmost to represent the taxpayers of the 33rd District and the State of Illinois—including continuing the work we’ve started in reforming this state's ethics regulations."

Later in the day, the Daily Herald reported comments by Kane County Republican Party Chairman Ken Shepro, who said that McConnaughay "is also likely to resign." The newspaper quoted Shepro, who was McConnaughay's attorney when she was Kane County Board chairwoman, saying that McConnaughay's next position is "something more rewarding, something more national in nature and something out of the petty bickering in Springfield," Shepro told the Daily Herald.

McConnaughay had been running against Democrat Nancy Zettler of Algonquin for another term to represent Illinois' 33rd Senate district. Both Zettle and McConnaughay went unopposed during the March primaries.

McConnaughay was first elected to the Senate in 2012.