The Tribune Endorses Hannah Billingsley

This district covers several suburbs in western DuPage County, including parts or all of West Chicago, Bartlett, Elgin, South Elgin, Batavia, Aurora and Naperville. Two Republicans are vying to challenge the Democratic incumbent, Maura Hischauer. They are Aris Garcia, a 24-year-old human resources manager for Avlon Industries, and Hannah Billingsley, 36, owner of MOD Sportswear in West Chicago.

Garcia, a self-described champion of conservative values, supports lower taxes and would back creating a local property tax task force to proactively give constituents information on ways to reduce their property taxes.

Billingsley also believes Illinois’ tax burden is too high and supports a statewide audit of school systems’ spending, an idea we think is good since schools consume the majority of property tax revenue. As a small business owner, she emphasizes support for businesses and job training.

On taxes, Billingsley tells us she’s from Florida originally and her parents still live there. “Even though my parents’ home is 50% bigger than mine, my property taxes are five times more than their property taxes,” she says.

Addressing wasteful spending in the schools and policies to encourage more robust business growth will help keep taxes more manageable, she says.

Billingsley is exactly the kind of candidate Republicans need to compete better in suburban Chicago.

We endorse Hannah Billingsley.