South Central Reporter

Republican House hopeful Blaine Wilhour is driven by a desire to see Illinois become the place he’s convinced it was designed to be.

“It would make a lot of sense that we would be making things and we could be doing that with the right economic policies in place to attract businesses,” Wilhour told the South Central Reporter. “We have the right infrastructure, but with our out-of-control worker’s compensation and all the over-regulations; our government is hemorrhaging. We adjust things, get smart leadership, we can be a force again. We should be an economic giant.”

Running against Democrat David Seiler to replace retiring Rep. John Cavaletto (R-Salem) in the 107th District, Wilhour aims to be part of the solution. He recently joined Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) and Reps. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) and Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) in forming a new coalition of conservative-minded Republican legislators and candidates dedicated to reforming state government and reviving the culture in Springfield.

Illinois State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)

Fellow GOP House candidates Darren Bailey, Dwight Kay and Chris Miller are also part of the alliance.

“I got into this to make a difference and because I believe the reform movement has to start in Southern Illinois,” Wilhour said. “This is a conservative area and it’s up to us to develop a conservative agenda and a voter mandate. Our top agenda items are controlling spending, growing the economy and putting the service back in public services.”

Wilhour said voters can help by spreading the message of change, thereby giving momentum to the movement.

“We need support,” he said. “We know some of our ideas will be extremely unpopular with the status quo and that’s a powerful group with plenty of resources.”

The 107th District includes all of Bond, Marion and Fayette counties, along with the western part of Effingham County and the northeast corner of Clinton County.