The defeat of the Progressive Tax Amendment, Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride not being retained, and modest Republican gains in the Illinois Statehouse were a message from voters on election day to House Speaker Michael Madigan. That’s the assessment from 74th District State Representative Dan Swanson. “I think when we look at what happened to Justice Killbride, that should send a message to Speaker Madigan,” Swanson said. “When he dropped half a million dollars in Justice Killbride’s campaign recently, but the people said no. They didn’t want a Supreme Court judge who listened and responded to Speaker Madigan’s demands or requests. So, more specifically, something Justice Killbride ruled against was the fair maps.” Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride lost his bid for retention on the Illinois Supreme Court by a margin of 54% to 43% in what was seen as a resounding rebuke to House Speaker Michael Madigan, who had spent heavily on ads to push for Kilbride to be retained. Swanson added that after last week’s election, the Republicans in the House picked up one seat so they are now at 45. There’s still a seat on the bubble – so Republicans could pick up a second. Swanson said that’s a huge win because going into the election, Republicans could’ve lost more, but ended up picking up two.
