Incumbent Brad Halbrook, 64, a Shelbyville Republican, has a primary challenger in John Hauge, 58, of Mount Zion.
Halbrook has been a consistent and principled voice on public pensions, fighting the good fight in the Capitol among establishment politicians who prefer to stick their fingers in their ears to ignore the uncomfortable truths he so often points out. He opted out of a General Assembly Retirement System pension, calling these benefits “underfunded and overly generous.” One quibble we have with Halbrook is that he’s blown past his 2016 “commitment” to serve no more than five terms. If he wins, this next term will be his seventh.
His challenger, Hauge, told us he’d like to eliminate the state income tax, which sounds appealing, if completely unrealistic at the moment, in favor of a sales tax on products not made in America, which is equally unrealistic and also a bad idea.
Brad Halbrook has consistently earned our endorsement, and we give it again now.
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.
