{"id":2200777,"date":"2024-03-17T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/teacher-unions-backing-downstate-republicans-very-rare-says-researcher\/"},"modified":"2024-03-17T15:40:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-17T19:40:10","slug":"teacher-unions-backing-downstate-republicans-very-rare-says-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/teacher-unions-backing-downstate-republicans-very-rare-says-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Notes Uncommon Support from Teacher Unions for Downstate Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fteacher-unions-backing-downstate-republicans-very-rare-says-researcher%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2200777&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Unexpected Twist: Teacher Unions Fund Republican Candidates<\/h2>\n<p>In\u2064 an unusual political shake-up, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-who-resisted-reopening-schools-took-thousands-from-teacher-unions\/\" title=\"Democrats Who Resisted Reopening Schools Took Thousands From Teacher Unions\">teacher unions<\/a> are breaking from tradition, funneling \u2062substantial\u200d donations into the \u200ccampaigns of selected Republican contenders for state legislative primaries. The spotlight\u2062 shines on\u200d the intriguing contest for\u2063 the 102nd Illinois House \u2062seat, where <b>incumbent Adam Niemerg faces\u200d off \u2064against Jim Acklin<\/b>, a race\u2064 garnering national attention due to\u200c this rare phenomenon.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Acklin\u200b received <b>$35,000 from the Illinois Federation of Teachers<\/b> and a \u2063significant $68,500 boost from the \u200cIllinois \u2063PAC\u2063 for Education. His war chest now boasts a healthy\u2064 $116,000, based on\u2064 figures from Illinois Sunshine\u2014a well-known <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-corporations-consider-blocking-monetary-support-to-gop\/\" title=\"U.S. corporations consider blocking monetary support to GOP\">campaign fund<\/a> \u200dtracker.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Caught in\u200b a whirlwind of controversy, Niemerg has been vocal about his\u2062 views, attributing the unions&#8217; financial support\u200b for his opponent\u200d to\u2062 calculated moves:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;They found somebody that will \u200bbe \u200btheir puppet candidate. Now they\u2019re spending \u200b$400,000 spreading lies and \u200bmisinformation about me to \u200dtry and perpetuate their indoctrination of the kids in the classrooms.\u200d The people of southeast Illinois\u2062 are fed up with it and they\u2019re not going to stand for it,&#8221; Niemerg stated, his own\u2064 political\u2063 fund sitting at\u200d $121,840 in reserves.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Unions&#8217; Partisanship \u200bPatterns\u2063 Shift<\/h3>\n<p><b>Open Secrets data paints a stark contrast<\/b>: Teacher unions&#8217; political action committees have tipped\u200b the scales with over \u2063$4 million \u2063to Democrats and \u2063a mere $24,000 to Republicans nationwide for the\u200c 2021-2022\u200b election cycle. According\u200d to Sarah Bryner, director of research \u2062and strategy at \u200cOpen Secrets, witnessing\u200b hefty \u2064contributions towards Republican primaries remains\u200d an outlier event.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By \u200band\u200d large they tend \u2064to support people who they think understand their causes,&#8221; Bryner explained. &#8220;It&#8217;s more common to see unions dive\u200d into Democratic primaries, as they often determine the eventual winner. Rarely do \u200cyou see \u2062such support\u200c for Republicans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Wider Political \u2064Implications<\/h3>\n<p>The donations have crossed into other races as well.\u200d <b>Matthew Hall, challenging Blaine Wilhour<\/b> \u2062 for \u2063the 110th Illinois House District, received similar backing, creating a ripple effect\u200c throughout the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nyc-republican-blasts-democratic-opponent-who-got-caught-using-ai-to-answer-media-questions\/\" title=\"NYC Republican slams Democratic rival for AI-assisted media responses\">local political landscape<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, the 102nd District holds a unique predicament with no candidates\u2062 appearing on the ballot. Both Niemerg and Acklin\u2062 are relying on write-in votes, and\u200d no Democrat\u2062 has yet entered the ring.\u2064 Niemerg quipped, &#8220;They could\u2064 slate a Democrat in, but \u2062it wouldn\u2019t matter. In my opinion, they\u2019ve got one running against\u2063 me\u200b in the primary already.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Across town, another race heats up as the indefatigable Chicago Teachers \u200dUnion\u2064 aligns its\u200d support behind kindergarten teacher Graciela Guzman\u200b in the Illinois\u2064 20th Senate District race. Her \u2064campaign fund, Gente for Graciela Guzman, has swelled to \u200d$583,155, with Senator Bernie Sanders recently endorsing\u200d her candidacy.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, she faces a formidable opponent\u200d in Senate President Don Harmon, who has reportedly channeled over $1.5 million \u200dinto incumbent state Sen. Natalie Toro\u2019s campaign fund, swelling it to $2 million, with the bulk coming\u2062 from the Illinois Senate Democrats Fund.<\/p>\n<p><b>List of notable\u200d campaign fund figures:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jim Acklin: \u200b$116,000 cash \u2064on hand<\/li>\n<li>Adam Niemerg:\u200d $121,840 cash on hand<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Hall: \u2064$210,461 cash on hand<\/li>\n<li>Blaine\u2063 Wilhour:\u200b $147,384 cash on hand<\/li>\n<li>Graciela Guzman: $583,155\u2063 cash on hand<\/li>\n<li>Natalie Toro: $2 million \u2063cash on hand<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Attributing the prevalence of unopposed races to increased polarization and\u2062 the steep\u2063 cost of campaigning in Illinois, Alisa Kaplan of Reform for Illinois sheds\u200c light on the underlying trends fueling this unconventional support from\u2064 teacher unions.<\/p>\n<p>While attempts to reach Acklin and Hall \u200bfor comments went unanswered, it&#8217;s\u2064 clear that the upcoming primary\u2062 wields an unprecedented dynamic\u2014at least in terms of campaign \u200dfunding\u2014poised \u2062to \u200cstir the \u200dpolitical pot.<\/p>\n<p><i>Contributions by Greg Bishop.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teachers unions are contributing large sums to select Republican legislative hopefuls, exemplified by the $35,000 given to Jim Acklin from the Illinois Federation in his race for Illinois&#8217; 102nd House seat against Rep. Adam Niemerg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2975,"featured_media":2200778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24019782950877-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2200777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24019782950877-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2200777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2200777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2200777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2200778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2200777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2200777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2200777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}