Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl and Republican challenger Daniel Behr disagree on the merits of a new Illinois law that could’ve kept Behr off the ballot.
Behr, of Northbrook, was among the candidates who successfully sued Illinois officials in May to stop the immediate implementation of the legislation, which forbids political parties from slating candidates after primary elections and would’ve been effective for this fall’s general election. Noting Katz Muhl voted for the law, Behr called the legislation’s intent unethical and unacceptable.
Katz Muhl, also of Northbrook, defended her vote, alleging candidates have used the slating process to skip primaries and avoid vetting by the public.
Behr and Katz Muhl discussed the legislation during a joint, online interview with the Daily Herald. A video of the interview can be found at dailyherald.com.
Republican Daniel Behr, left, and Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl are running for the 57th state House seat.
Senate Bill 2412 was introduced as an amendment to the Children and Family Services Act in February, but its contents were radically changed by the state House on May 1 to instead focus on election code. Both chambers approved the legislation the next day, and it was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on May 3.
The law only affects General Assembly races.
Behr and more than a dozen other Republican candidates who had been slated after the state’s March primary election sued the Illinois State Board of Elections and state Attorney General Kwame Raoul and asked a Sangamon County judge to issue an emergency temporary restraining order to stop implementation of the law this cycle. That order was granted and then upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court.
The Illinois State Board of Elections independently ruled it wouldn’t remove slated candidates from this fall’s ballots, too.
The law will be effective for future elections.
Behr, a transportation and economic development consultant making his first run at public office, criticized the law while answering a question about ethics in state government.
He said the law would’ve prevented voters from having second candidates to choose from in 20 state contests.
“That I don’t consider good ethics,” he said.
Behr dislikes that the law only targets state candidates. He pointed out that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was appointed the party’s nominee without running for that post in this year’s primary elections.
“If it was across the board and applied to every office … that would be a different story,” Behr said. “It wasn’t.”
Katz Muhl said the state’s previous rules for slating candidates after primaries were intended to allow political parties to replace candidates who’ve won primaries but can’t continue to general elections because of illness or other factors. The rules also had allowed parties to replace candidates disqualified from primary races because of petition flaws, she said.
“But over the last several years, we’ve seen actors from both the Democratic and Republican parties misuse that law to deliberately skip participating in primary elections,” said Katz Muhl, a lawyer and former school board member who was appointed to the state House earlier this year.
Running for office under a political party’s banner is a “serious and significant responsibility,” Katz Muhl said, and doing that should mean standing before primary voters.
Behr said he was asked to run by GOP leaders when no primary candidate surfaced — but too late to get on that ballot. Behr denied his appointment was the result of political shenanigans.
“There were no backroom deals, no smoke-filled rooms,” he said.
The 57th District covers all or parts of Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield, Wilmette, Winnetka, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Glencoe, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling. The last day to vote is Nov. 5.
