Rock Island Today

Although Republican candidates may not have done so well statewide in last Tuesday’s general election, it was a different story in Henry County.

In an interview with radio station WKEI in Kewanee, 17th Congressional District State Central Committee Chair Jan Weber said all 10 contested seats on the County Board would remain in GOP hands. That means the 20-member board will have a majority of 18 Republicans.

“We’re quite elated with those results,” Weber said during a videotaped interview with station reporter James Jones. “We say thank you to the voters of Henry County for listening to our message about smaller, smarter government, transparency and providing the services people in this county need and want at tax rates we can afford.”

The GOP controls Henry County's board. | https://morguefile.com/photos/morguefile/1/election/pop

Two other local incumbents, state Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) and state Sen. Neil Anderson (R-Andalusia), also looked on track to retain their seats, Weber said at the time. Since the video was filmed, both McCombie and Anderson were declared winners in their districts.

With a little less than 50 percent voter turnout, the county still showed strong support for outgoing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Statewide, however, Democrat J.B. Pritzker claimed the victory to become governor-elect.

“We just wish he had carried the rest of the state as well as he did Henry County,” Weber said.

Another bright spot for Republicans was the win of John Zahm in the Henry County Clerk’s race. A former Henry and Orion school board member, Zahm was Osco Township's Republican precinct committeeman from 2010 to 2018.

“We appreciate the work John has put in to his own campaign, but also to a lot of the behind the scenes work for our Republican county board candidates,” Weber said. “It sends a message to the people that we’re here, we’re active and we’ll continue to represent them.”