SE Illinois News

Efforts by teachers' unions to knock off incumbent conservatives in next week's primary election have ramped up with $260,000 targeting two House members opposed to their agendas.

Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) - the politcal action committee for the National Education Association - established an independent expenditure committee "Illinois Working PAC" to defeat Rep. Adam Niemberg (R-Dieterich) and Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Louisville). The committee was set up on March 4 - just two weeks before election day.

Television, radio, social media and print advertising have been flooding the two rural conservative southeast Illinois districts. 

The unions - which almost exclusively back Democrat candidates - are supporting Republican challengers Jim Acklin against Niemerg and Matt Hall against Wilhour. 

In the 102nd House District, both Niemerg and Acklin - a former teacher, school superintendent and current acting mayor of Ogden - are running as write-in candidates. Niemerg was forced to run as a write-in because was removed from the ballot in January after a finding by the Illinois State Board of Elections that he failed to properly notarize campaign paperwork.

Prior to the establishment of the Illinois Working PAC, Acklin had received more than $100,000 in contributions from teachers' unions.

On Facebook, Niemerg blasted the funding: 

"Folks, the WOKE teachers unions who masked our kids, shut down our schools, and pushed perverse sex Ed in our kids classrooms want me removed from office! Ask yourself why they have targeted me so extensively with horrible negative lies?" he wrote. "Why have they put in 400k against me? Why did they work with democrats to remove me from the ballot? This is a fight for our kids future….don’t let the woke Chicago special interests win. Write -in Adam Niemerg."

In the 110th House District, funding for Wilhour's opponent Hall - who works for the Illinois Department of Corrections and serves as Fayette County Republican Central Committee - has exceeded $200,000, separate from the Illinois Working PAC. 

Wilhour also blasted on Facebook the support his opponent is receiving from teachers' unions:

"Why would these far-left special interests spend so much to get rid of me?" he wrote. "We can’t even keep up with their spending. It’s because they know with my opponent, they will get someone who will sit back, continue to cash their checks as they gradually bend culture to their perverse will while they don’t even realize what’s going down.

"They know that will never happen with me-I won’t take their money and will never compromise on my conservative values so they must get rid of me. 

"We need strong, independent conservatives that are not afraid to speak truth to power in Springfield-not folks already on the take before they even get in office."

The primary election is March 19.