Sen. Sam McCann (R-Plainview) is throwing his support behind Pittsfield businessman Jonas Petty in his Republican primary bid to unseat incumbent Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville) in the 100th House District.
McCann recently held a press conference at the American Legion in Pittsfield, where he praised Petty as the right man to “carry the message of the people to Springfield” and criticized Davidsmeyer as having become a rubber stamp for Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
“I have nothing personally against Rep. Davidsmeyer,” McCann told the State Journal-Register. “I think he’s a good man. I think Mr. Petty’s a good man. What I have a problem with is ever since Gov. Rauner came to power, Rep. Davidsmeyer is one of those people who just totally went along with him. I’m trying to figure out why the people of the 100th District should send C.D. Davidsmeyer back here just to be a rubber stamp for the Rauner administration.”
Sen. Sam McCann
McCann pointed out that Davidsmeyer initially aligned himself with Democrats last summer in voting to pass a budget that carried a 32 percent permanent income tax hike before ultimately falling in line along with Rauner’s decision to veto the measure.
“I think that underscores the fact that once he did finally stand up to the governor, he eventually backed down,” McCann told the Journal-Register of Davidsmeyer’s sudden change of heart.
While Davidsmeyer rejected the validity of McCann’s claims and sought to minimize the impact of his announcement, Petty wholeheartedly embraced the support.
He told the Journal-Register the endorsement “can only be positive because the voters have elected Sen. McCann through thick and thin ... because of his commitment to the people of the 100th District, not the special interests. I am absolutely humbled that he sees that same conviction in me.”
McCann had billed the gathering as a major announcement and there was growing speculation that he might be planning to formally announce his run for governor at the event. He did not file to run for re-election this year and has recently openly feuded with Rauner, who backed another candidate against him in 2016 and donated upwards of $4 million to the campaign of Bryce Benton.
McCann says he plans to reveal his political plans going forward by mid-April. Over the last several months, he has chided the governor for signing abortion expansion bill HB40 into law and ridiculed the GOP as a party that is now “unrecognizable” to him and “has lost its way under Gov. Rauner.”
Petty, who also recently scored the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune, is running on a platform of greater fiscal responsibility and more government accountability. He previously told the West Central Reporter he believes voters have had enough of all the dysfunction in Springfield.
“For a long, long time we have been told nothing can be done, but seeing this movement says to me that the status quo is no longer good enough,” he said. “We’re on the verge of seeing the largest turnover in the history of Illinois politics, and I think that’s a good thing. It’s time to get fresh faces willing to make tough decisions.”
The 100th House District includes all or parts of Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon and Scott counties.
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