EDWARDS, Ill. – Candidates are starting to declare their candidacy to battle for a seat in Springfield in the 93rd District of the Illinois House.
The district encompasses Pekin and portions of Tazewell, Peoria, and Fulton Counties, and stretches north to the Quad Cities area.
Travis Weaver (R-Edwards) is the incumbent, and is seeking a second term. He says he’s in it for the long haul.
“I’m 31 years old, I’m planning on being here for a long time. So I don’t mind the fact that it’s going to take a couple cycles to get out of this mess,” Weaver said.
Weaver is looking at a team approach, and is hoping to elect more Republicans to office next year to eliminate the superminority, in the hopes of the party winning the governorship in 2026.
Weaver is also running because he sees opportunity in the state, but challenges as well.
“We’ve gotta loosen taxes, we’ve gotta loosen up regulation. And I’m running because this is my home, and I want to make it a great place to live and raise a family and do business. And when I look at the leadership right now, I don’t see that,” Weaver said.
To achieve some of those goals, Weaver says he wants to reduce spending by changing the state’s pension plan from defined benefits to a more 401-K styled plan of defined contributions. He also wants to bring back “Invest in Kids,” a state voucher program that lets parents choose which school to send their children to.
Weaver says he reached out to his first known opponent, Democrat Zoey Carter of Pekin, on Facebook after she announced her candidacy last week.
He says he wants to keep the race cordial and respectful.
“I think it’s important to have open lines of communication, because Zoey may say something at some point that I believe is untruthful or deceptive, and I’d like to be able to call that out,” Weaver said. “And I also empower Zoey to have that same relationship with me.”
Carter, who other media outlets have reported could be the first transgender person elected to state office, was not available for comment. But in a Facebook post announcing her candidacy, she says she’s running “because I know that we are not getting the proper representation that we deserve.”
Carter says people are not “getting the help they need” from leaders in Springfield, and says she learned hard work at a young age. She lists issues such as rising costs of food, housing, and medication to LGBTQIA+ rights as issues people in Illinois have to face.
Carter also says “we shouldn’t be aiming to Make Illinois like Florida, or any other state for that matter. We should be working on making this A Better Illinois For All.”
