Peggy Hubbard tries to break through

Peggy Hubbard is ready for another run at the U.S. Senate.

The Belleville, Illinois Navy veteran finished second to Mark Curran in the 2020 Republican U.S. Senate primary for the chance to run against entrenched Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. Durbin beat Curran 55-40 with Willie Wilson (an independent candidate…sure) from Chicago getting 4 percent of the vote.

I remember seeing Wilson signs in Quincy leading up to last November and wondered “How the Hell did these get down here?”

So Hubbard is back and looking to go after Senator Tammy Duckworth in November 2022. She is currently the best-known name of those who have said they are running for the GOP nomination as she did garner more than 113,000 votes. The other Republicans who have filed are Rob Cruz from Oak Lawn, Tim Arview from West Frankfort and Allison Salinas from Pekin. Not exactly household names, although Republican headliners in Illinois are more scarce than a Covid mask at a Quincy Tea Party meeting. (Now that’s funny. You guys are my friends, so don’t get bent out of shape. You know it’s funny).

Here’s a little factoid for you: While Durbin has been in his seat since the earth cooled, (okay, elected to the U.S. House as a…ahem…pro-life…Democrat in 1982 and to the Senate in 1996) the “other” Senate seat in Illinois has been in a state of flux and no incumbent has won it since Democrat Alan Dixon turned the trick in 1986. One guy left the job to run for a promotion. Name rhymes with “Yo mama”.

The incumbent list, from our friends at the always informative McHenry County Blog:

Hubbard stopped in Quincy on Tuesday and spent some time talking to local business owners, like Eric Dooley at Dooley’s Fly Fishing, which recently opened in Downtown Quincy.

Hubbard also took a few minutes to visit with Muddy River News. She said she wanted to visit the Illinois Veterans Home and check out the construction underway following the homes challenges with Legionnaire’s.

Hubbard said she was at an event with the other four candidates that Wilson hosted and Wilson has handing out $5,000 checks to all of the candidates. Hubbard didn’t accept the donation.

“Why would I take money from a Democrat?” she said. But Wilson ran as an independent in 2020…wink, wink, nod, nod.

So she’s a Navy veteran, a retired employee from the IRS and a conservative black female Republican. She says she’s been mocked and called an “Oreo” by Illinois Democrats and her husband was a victim of Black Lives Matter violence in 2016, getting shot at a protest.

She says Duckworth is absent and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is “off the rails”. Hubbard said she has been encouraged by her reception in Chicago.

“Why aren’t we taking care of our people? All people,” Hubbard said. “Violence, poverty…the democrats offer no leadership.”

Hubbard’s enthusiasm will go a long way, but it will all come down to the money she can raise if she hopes to improve on 2020’s second place finish with a primary, then general election win in 2022.