Represented by Democrat Bill Foster, the 11th is a suburban, exurban and rural district ranging from Lemont and Naperville in the western suburbs through part of Aurora and northwest to Woodstock and Belvidere. Foster is unopposed.
There are four running in the GOP primary. The two leading candidates are Jeff Walter, who last year won his third term as mayor of Elburn, and retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Pierce of Naperville.
Both Walter and Pierce strike us as solid Republican choices, but we give the nod to Walter, 65, who has run unopposed in two successive elections for Elburn mayor and holds some moderate positions that we think could make him viable against the moderate Democrat Foster. Chief among those are Trump’s tariffs, the enormity of which this page has criticized as anti-competitive. “If I had the authority to reverse Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Walter told us, “I would evaluate them individually: I would keep or modify those that demonstrably protect U.S. workers or address unfair practices, and roll back those that primarily raise costs at home.”
Pierce, by contrast, approves of Trump’s tariffs without qualification.
Also running is Charlie Kim of Aurora, who in 2024 said in a voter guide that he didn’t believe Joe Biden won the 2020 election legitimately. Tedora Brown of Palos Park is subject to a judicial ruling that she didn’t collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. (That ruling has been appealed).
Walter is more likely to appeal to the moderate Democrats and independents any GOP candidate will need to unseat Foster. He has our endorsement.
Read all of the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for the 2026 Illinois primary election here.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
