LOCALBRIEF
–Daily Chronicle
DeKALB –Paul Stoddard is making another attempt to represent the 70th Legislative District in Springfield. The DeKalb Democrat and member of the DeKalb County Board will hold a kickoff event for his campaign beginning at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 5at 720 Somonuak St. in Sycamore.
Stoddard ran for the seat in 2018 against Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore. Keicher had been appointed in July 2018 after state Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, resigned to take a post on the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees.
Stoddard lost by 1,465 votes out of almost 39,000 votes cast in the election.
Stoddard beat Keicher in DeKalb County, garnering 14,080 votes to Keicher’s 12,728. However, Keicher had the higher vote totals in both Kane and Boone counties. He held a200-plus vote edge in Boone County and a2,400-vote lead in Kane County, according to unofficial vote totals.
Stoddard is a retired NIU professor. He plans on running with a platform in favor of fair map districting, local funding for campaigns, term limits for leadership positions and the idea that government leadership should be separate from party leadership, according to his campaign website.
