On Monday, days after GOP Rep. Francis Rooney announced that he would retire from Florida’s safely red 19th Congressional District, the DCCC put out a statement “calling” for Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis to drop his campaign against freshman Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood and run there instead. Oberweis owns a home in Rooney’s district and has benefited in the past from a homeowner’s tax exemption by listing it as his “primary” residence, but there was never any indication that anyone was interested in seeing him run in Florida … until Thursday.
Amazingly, though, Florida Republicans are reportedly taking this Democratic trolling as sincere advice. Even more strangely, Oberweis’ own campaign may be doing the same thing. This week, Oberweis spokesman Travis Akin acknowledged to Politico, “There’s a push from Republicans in that district” for him to run. Akin could have simply dismissed the idea of his boss running in Florida but instead he continued, “All he’d have to do is move down there and he’d win.”
Oberweis has a truly awful electoral history in Illinois, so national Republicans may not mind it if he actually did campaign for a safe seat in Florida rather than in Underwood’s competitive district. However, despite his campaign’s strange response to this story, it doesn’t sound likely.
Politico writes that “Oberweis is focused” on running against Underwood in Illinois, though there’s no quote from Akin or anyone else outright ruling out the idea of him running to the south. Still, Akin did add that “Jim’s in good shape to win the primary” to take on Underwood, so it doesn’t seem like the state senator is interested in quitting that race.
Illinois’ filing deadline is in early December so we’ll know soon enough if he’ll be on the ballot for the competitive 14th Congressional District. Amusingly, though, Florida’s deadline is in May, so if Oberweis loses Illinois’ March primary, he might be able to run for Congress in the Sunshine State anyway!
Want more great elections coverage like this? Sign up for our free daily newsletter, the Morning Digest.