All,

Apologies for the delay in getting the April report in. There wasn't much happening in the three weeks since the April meeting, which is why there isn't a May report. All divisional developments from the month of May will be in the June report.

With the likely potential that we will opt not to petition for the only statewide race in Illinois for 2024 (POTUS/VP), we may need to prepare to focus on petitioning drives for other races from county-level to General Assembly.

Jim Humay, Regional Deputy Director for the Chicago/Cook & DuPage Counties region has been reaching out to those who previously expressed interest in running for General Assembly in 2022, but never responded to email or phone communications leading up to said election cycle. We're hoping that some of them will opt to run in 2024, regardless of whether the Cook County Clerk and the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners want to play their dirty political games like they did two years ago when it came to our established party status in the county.

We have two more inquiries within his region since the April meeting:

• Phillip Perez
• First contact: April 27, 2023
  
• Resident of Posen - 9th Congressional District/SCC Representative: Jason Decker
• Current trustee, Posen Park District
  
• Seeking to run in Senate District 15. SD15 runs into parts of Will and Kankakee counties, so signature requirements would based on new party/independent rules. Established in Cook and Kankakee counties, not currently established in Will County. District often runs uncontested Democrat, currently held by Sen. Napoleon Harris. All or parts of Beecher, Blue Island, Bourbonnais, Bradley, Burnham, Calumet City, Chicago, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Crestwood, Crete, Dixmoor, Dolton, East Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Ford Heighs, Glenwood, Goodenow, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Homewood, Kankakee, Lansing, Lynwood, Manteno, Markham, Midlothian, Momence, Oak Forest, Olympia Fields, Park Forest, Peotone, Phoenix, Posen, Riverdale, Robbins, Sauk Village, South Chicago Heights, South Holland, Steger, Thornton, Tinley Park, and University Park.
• Nearest chapter (currently): Libertarian Party of Chicago (at least until South Cook Libertarians reestablishes)
• Will be attending a LPC meet-and-greet in Blue Island on May 20
• Aris Garcia
• First contact: May 11, 2023
  
• Resident of Streamwood - 8th Congressional District/SCC Representative: Julie Fox
• Seeking to run in Senate District 22. SD22 runs into parts of Cook and Kane counties, so signature requirements would based on new party/independent rules. Current sitting state Sen. Cristina Castro has run uncontested the past couple/few cycles. Established in Cook County, not currently established in Kane County. All or parts of Barrington Hills, Bartlett, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Elgin, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, South Barrington, South Elgin, and Streamwood.
  
• Has previous experience working as a project manager for Sen. Castro a couple of election cycles ago, worked the position to get insight and experience
• Immigrant from Germany who is a naturalized citizen, small business owner, late 20s
• The 2022 Libertarian ticket (statewide + countywide) did perform quite well in the Cook County portion of this district.
• Nearest chapters: Northwest Cook Libertarians, Libertarian Party of Chicago, Fox Valley Libertarians

Only one other candidate inquiry came in since the April meeting, and I'm handling that currently:

•    Curtis Ryan
• First contact: May 11, 2023
• Formerly of Decatur, now residing in Taylorville - 15th Congressional District/SCC Representative: John Phillips Jr.
  
• Was briefly in the running for 2022 gubernatorial race before dropping out
• Initial campaign interest: Senate District 54. SD54 runs into parts or all of Christian, Cumberland, Effingham, Macon, Macoupin, Menard, Montgomery, Moultrie, Sangamon, and Shelby counties. Montgomery County is only established county within district. Went uncontested Republican in 2022, represented by Sen. Steve McClure. All or parts of Assumption, Athens, Auburn, Carlinville, Chatham, Decatur, Effingham, Gillespie, Girard, Hillsboro, Litchfield, Macon, Moweaqua, Neoga, Pana, Raymond, Riverton, Shelbyville, Sherman, Sullivan, Taylorville, Virden, Williamsville, etc.
• Open to: Christian County Circuit Clerk OR Christian County Coroner. Would be a target campaign in Christian County due to being a collar county around currently established Montgomery County. Could be manageable if we can maintain between 627 and 1,003 signatures based on the 5% to 8% range, but this is still an early projection until the official numbers come out from County Clerk Jodie Badman next year.
• Chapter in rebuilding: ChrisMont Libertarian Central Committee (estimated re-establishment: April 2024)
  

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