McHenry Times

Illinois State Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) says he hopes the replacement to House GOP Leader Jim Durkin will "advance our legislative priorities and lessen the harmful effects of Democratic overreach."

Reick sent an email to his constituents Monday expressing his thoughts on what's next for the Illinois House Republican caucus, now down to 40 members out of 118, a record low 33 percent.

"Given our diminished numbers it’s unlikely that we're going to see much advancement of our legislative priorities. Therefore, the job of the Leader in the legislative sense is going to be one of doing the best that can be done to make Democratic legislation do as little harm to as few people as possible," he wrote.

Democrats don't need GOP votes to pass bills in Springfield. But sometimes they ask Republican legislators to join them in voting for legislation so they can say that support for it was "bi-partisan."

In June 2019, Reick obliged and voted with Democrats to double the state's gasoline tax from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon, or $9.50 per 25 gallon gas tank. He also joined them in voting to hike vehicle title and registration fees by $675 million.

A press release announcing the bill's signing by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker said it was passed with "vast bipartisan supermajorities."

Illinois gasoline prices in summer 2019 were $2.86 per gallon, or $71.50 per 25 gallon gas tank. Today, they are $4.16, or $104 per fill-up.

In 2022, Reick won his district, entirely in McHenry County, with 20,828 votes (54 percent) to Democrat Brian D. Meyers’s 17,730 votes (46 percent).

Reick's 2022 vote total was down 20 percent from 2018, when he ran unopposed, but still garnered 26,121 votes.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey beat Democrat J.B. Pritzker in McHenry County this year, winning 54,680 votes (51 percent) to the Democrat’s 49,714 (46 percent). 

In 2020, Reick won 55 percent of the vote (28,320) to Democrat Brian Sager's 45 percent. 

That's when then-GOP President Donald Trump defeated Democrat Joe Biden in McHenry County, 82,257 (50 percent) to 78,153 (47 percent). Trump had won in McHenry County four years earlier with 71,612 votes (50 percent) to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 60,803 votes (43 percent).

Reick’s 63rd District includes most of McHenry, northern Crystal Lake, eastern Lake in the Hills, Cary, Trout Valley, Port Barrington, central and southern Woodstock, Lakemoor, southern Wonder Lake, Bull Valley, Ridgefield, Ferndale, Holiday Hills, Burton’s Bridge, Holiday Hills. That includes Cary-Grove, Prairie Ridge, McHenry, Woodstock and Marian Central Catholic high schools.

Reick, 71, is a lawyer and accountant who was first elected to the Illinois State House in Nov. 2016, defeating Jeff Lichte of McHenry in the Republican primary, then Democrat John M. Bartman of Marengo in the general election, 56 percent to 44 percent.

Reick moved to Woodstock from Harvard in April 2016.

House members whose districts includes parts of McHenry County include Reick, State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills), State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa), State Rep. Suzanne Ness (D-Crystal Lake), State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) and State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore).

McLaughlin’s 52nd District includes eastern Lake in the Hills and most of Algonquin. He won the McHenry portion of his district In 2022, which also stretches into Cook and Lake Counties, with 4,441 votes (55 percent) to Democrat Mary Morgan’s 3,696 (45 percent).

Weber’s 64th District includes northern McHenry, eastern Richmond, eastern Wonder Lake, Ringwood, McCullom Lake, Solon Mills, Spring Grove and Johnsburg, including Johnsburg High School.

He won the McHenry County portion of his district in 2022, which also stretches into Lake County, with 10,772 votes (65 percent) to Democrat Rick Konter’s 5,718 votes (35 percent).

Ness’s 66th District includes south and central Crystal Lake, eastern Lake in the Hills and parts of western Algonquin. It includes Crystal Lake Central , Crystal Lake South and H.D. Jacobs high schools.

She won the McHenry County portion of her district in 2022, which also stretches south into Kane County, with 7,234 votes (53 percent) to Republican Connie Cain’s  6,308 (47 percent).

Sosnowski’s 69th District includes most of Huntley, the Village of Lakewood, North and Northwest Woodstock, western Richmond, Harvard, Greenwood, Alden, Hebron, Belden, western Wonder Lake, Hartland, Marengo, Union, Coral, Riley, Harmony, Lawrence and Chemung. It includes Woodstock North, Huntley, Marengo Community, Alden-Hebron, Richmond Burton and Harvard High Schools.

In 2022, Sosnowski won the McHenry County portion of his district, which stretches west into Boone and Winnebago Counties, with 15,260 votes (60 percent) to Democrat Peter Janko’s 10,021 (40 percent).

Keicher’s 70th District includes far southwest Crystal Lake, Boulder Ridge Country Club in central Lake in the Hills and parts of western Algonquin.

In 2022, he ran unopposed for re-election and won 3,977 votes in the McHenry County portion of his district, which is primarily in DeKalb and western Kane Counties