Marti Deuter

Part of the veto-proof super majority Illinois Democrats enjoy in the House is due to Jenn Ladisch Douglass’ 2022 upset of veteran 45th District Republican incumbent Deanne Mazzochi.  

The margin in the race was less than 1 percent, with Ladisch Douglass prevailing by 364 votes out of 44,000 ballots cast, despite President Joe Biden winning the district easily two years previously. 

Now the 45th House seat is open after Ladisch Douglass announced last September that she would not run for re-election. She did not give a specific reason for her decision except to say she was leaving the State House “so I can focus on my family.”  

Mazzochi was gerrymandered out of the new district in the re-districting process. 

Democrat and Elmhurst resident Marti Deuter serves on the Elmhurst City Council and chairs the Development, Planning, and Zoning Committee. First elected in 2013, she has served on all four of the council’s standing committees and has been in a council leadership position since 2015. 

Deuter previously spent eight years working for the city of Chicago, where she directed the Department of Housing’s federal, state, and local policy agendas. She managed the creation of the Chicago Community Land Trust and the department’s senior and five-year affordable housing plans.  

Deuter’s priorities are investing in education, building an inclusive economy through expanded access to career and technical education, and investing in infrastructure and transportation. She also vows to ensure access to healthcare, “protect and expand” voting rights and protect LGBT rights.  

Dennis Reboletti

Republican candidate Dennis Reboletti was a member of the Illinois House from 2007-15, during which time he rose to assistant Republican leader and has been the Addison Township supervisor since 2017. His earlier professional experience includes working as an assistant attorney general with the Illinois Attorney General’s, adjunct instructor in criminal justice at Triton Community College, and an assistant state’s attorney.     

In 2022 he lost a bid for 23rd District State Senator by an 8.8 percent margin, after senate Democrats spent millions in support of incumbent State Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton, D-Western Springs, focusing on abortion rights.  

Reboletti, who says he supports term limits, says he is concerned with “the challenges facing Main Street businesses, and the important role small businesses play in our local communities.” 

If elected, he said he would fight against job-killing taxes and regulations and advocate for common-sense, pro-job policies. 

Since mid-August Democrats for the Illinois House and the Democratic Party of Illinois have spent $249,000 on Deuter’s campaign. That includes $90,000 from DPI for eight political mailings, and more than $123,000 from Democrats for the Illinois House for digital ads, along with the salaries of two campaign staffers.  

As with most every other Illinois House race this year, the GOP has been unable or unwilling to come close to Democratic expenditures. In August, the House Republican Organization sent Christos Letsos, who was hired in July as a field director, to work on Reboletti’s campaign.  

Besides paying for two staffers, the HRO has spent $50,000 for digital ads and $13,000 for polling in August. The Illinois Republican Party has spent $29,000 on two mailings.