Voters in Scott and Rock Island counties will see a handful of competitive legislative races during the June primary election season.
The deadline for candidates to file for legislative races passed last week, shoring up the field of competitive primary election contests.
The decennial redistricting process drew new borders for legislative districts based on 2020 census data, leaving some legislators to retire or seek election in new districts.
Iowa voters can look up their new senate and house district here. Illinois voters can do the same here.
Competitive party primaries
Iowa Senate District 47, covering Bettendorf, Eldridge and LeClaire will see a Republican primary between two sitting city council members. Barry Long, a LeClaire council member, will face Scott Webster, a Bettendorf alderman.
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Mary Figaro, an attorney from Bettendorf, filed to run for the District 47 race as the lone Democrat in the race.
Iowa Senate District 41 stretches across all of Cedar County and represents northwest Scott County, including Blue Grass. Kerry Gruenhagen, of Walcott, and Alan Weets, of Mechanicsville, are running for the Republican nomination. Deb VanderGaast, of Tipton, and Nikole Tutton, of Mechanicsville, filed to run for the Democratic nomination for the district.
Illinois Senate District 36 encompasses all of Rock Island County and portions of Henry, Warren, Mercer, Knox and McDonough counties. The Republican primary will see a matchup between Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms and perennial candidate Glen Evans Sr.
Illinois House District 72 covers all of Rock Island County and will be a battle between three well-known Democratic candidates: Rock Island County board member Jeff Deppe; former state Senate candidate Gregg Johnson; and former Rock Island mayoral candidate Thurgood Brooks.
Races without competitive primaries
In Iowa Senate District 35, which represents northeastern Scott County and all of Clinton County, incumbent Republican Chris Cournoyer, of LeClaire, will face a challenge from Joe Brown, a Democrat from Clinton. Cournoyer was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2018. Brown is a longtime public school administrator, most recently working as interim superintendent of the Clear Creek-Amana School District, and was elected a state senator in 1978 and 1982.
Iowa House District 70: Democrat Kay Pence, of Eldridge, filed to run as a Democrat challenging Norlin Mommsen, of DeWitt. Mommsen, a DeWitt farmer, was first elected to the Iowa House in 2014. Pence has worked as a “career union representative,” she said. House District 70 represents northern Scott County and swaths of Clinton and southern Jackson Counties.
Iowa House District 81: Craig Lynn Cooper, a former spokesperson for Genesis, is running as a Democrat for House District 81. Sean Hanley, a Davenport realtor, and Luana Stoltenberg, a Davenport author, are running for the Republican nomination on the ballot to challenge him.
Iowa House District 82, Republican Bobby Kaufmann, the chair of the State Government Committee is running unopposed for House District 82. The district covers Blue Grass, parts of rural western Scott County and all of Cedar County.
Iowa House District 93: Democrat residential design and build firm owner Ryan Carstensen, of LeClaire, filed to challenge Republican Gary Mohr, a former Bettendorf alderman. First elected in 2016, Mohr chairs the House appropriations committee. The district covers most of Bettendorf and LeClaire.
Iowa House District 94: Phyllis Thede, an incumbent in Bettendorf, faces another challenge by Mike Vondran, a Republican. Vondran, a businessman, lost to Thede in 2020. The newly drawn boundaries of District 94, however, make it a more rural district, where Republicans tend to outperform Democrats. The previously urban district now includes all of Eldridge and parts of northern Scott County, Davenport and Bettendorf.
Iowa House District 97: Ken Croken, a Democrat, is running unopposed. Croken currently is a county supervisor, and is a retired Genesis marketing executive.
Iowa House District 98: Monica Kurth, a Democrat from Davenport, is running unopposed for her fourth term in the Iowa Legislature. House District 98 covers west Davenport and rural western Scott County along the river.
Illinois Senate District 36: Mike Halpin, the Democratic incumbent State Representative for House District 72, is running unopposed for state Senate in the 36th District, which covers all of Rock Island County and portions of Henry, Warren, Mercer, Knox and McDonough counties.
Illinois Senate District 47: Neil Anderson, a Republican from Andalusia, is the only candidate who filed to run in the 47th District. Anderson is the two-term incumbent Senator in the 36th District, but was drawn into the 47th District when remapping took place. The district is now the largest district in Illinois; it covers all of Hancock, Henderson, Mason, Menard, Mercer, Schuyler and Warren counties, and parts of Adams, Fulton, Henry, Knox, McDonough, Peoria, Rock Island, Stark, and Tazewell counties.
Illinois House District 72: Tom Martens, a Republican from Rock Island, is running for the first time as state representative.