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Dillard wins convincingly over Nybo
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Updated: March 29, 2012 3:39PM
Incumbent Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale won a convincing decision Tuesday over state. Rep. Chris Nybo of Elmhurst in the Republican primary for state Senate in the newly drawn 24th District.
With all precincts reporting in both DuPage and Cook counties, Dillard had 19,145 votes to Nybo’s 11,928.
New legislative maps were drawn following the 2010 Census. The new boundaries cut off the western part of the district, which used to include Naperville, moved the northern boundary to include Elmhurst and extended the district east into Western Springs.
Dillard said negative campaigning did his opponent in.
“Negative campaigning doesn’t work in DuPage County, especially for someone who hasn’t established a base with people,” Dillard said. “It makes me proud voters understand results from Springfield, I take this as a referendum on my style of leadership. I have a brand of leadership. I’m able to work with the other party without ever giving up my principles.”
When asked about Dillard’s comments regarding his negative campaigning, Nybo said Dillard did some negative campaigning of his own.
“He did that, especially at the end, and I think that may have made a difference for him,” Nybo said.
While disappointed with the results, Nybo said he “always trusts the voters.”
“The voters indicated they prefer a candidate with more experience for this district,” he said.
Nybo said he plans to finish his term as a state representative and then focus on spending more time with his family and his private practice as an attorney.
“The silver lining in this is that I now will have more time to spend with my family,” he said, adding he has no plans to return to the political scene.
In the Democratic primary, A. Ghani of Oak Brook ran unopposed and will square off against Dillard in the Nov. 6 general election.
Dillard claimed numerous times during the campaign that Nybo has never finished a term he has started, while Nybo often said the incumbent has been in office long enough. Dillard was first elected to the Senate in 1994 and before that served for three years as chief of staff to then-Gov. Jim Edgar.
There is an important distinction between us,” Dillard said of himself and Nybo. “His reputation is one of volatility and opportunism. He has never served out a term for anything. The man has blind ambition.”
Nybo said he “got squeezed” in a redistricting quandary and decided to run against Dillard because he believes Dillard was on the receiving end of a special deal from Democrats when new the new legislative map was created.
“The problem with Senator Dillard is that he thinks as a Springfield person thinks; a feeling of entitlement. He thinks of this as his district. I have the willingness to be independent.”
Dillard claimed several times during the campaign that Nybo’s behavior has been “rude, obnoxious, thuggish,” and “Chicago-style.” But despite those harsh words, Dillard said the campaign wasn’t unusual.
“There really wasn’t anything different about this campaign,” he said. “I’ve had to run against people before, and this is just the process.”
Both Dillard and Nybo agree that pension obligations are a huge problem in Illinois. Dillard said he plans to do whatever he can to stop state legislators from pushing the pension obligations off to suburban property-tax payers. Nybo said Dillard is late with his response about unfunded pensions.
“He’s been there for 20 years,” Nybo said. “We should have seen that coming a mile away, but he’s never taken a bold position. Senator Dillard doesn’t suggest any alternatives to anything; he only tells you what he won’t do.”
Nybo also has been very outspoken about being in favor of term limits for state legislators, something about which Dillard doesn’t agree.
