North Cook News

Jessica Tucker did not intend to run for the Illinois state House seat in District 18.

A lawyer by trade, she had served her community for years and was content to enjoy her time off. However, through the encouragement of her constituents and the concerns they had with the state’s financial situation, she entered the race.

 

“I was on the ballot for the primary so I was out last fall just like everybody else gathering signatures and getting on the ballot, submitting everything,” Tucker told the North Cook News. “I think it was that week of Thanksgiving when everything had to be in for consideration for the ballot. At the primary level, I was unopposed. My opponent [state Rep.] Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) was unopposed. Now, I will be on the ballot Nov. 8th.”

 

Her opponent, incumbent Gabel, is serving a third term. Tucker hopes that by running, she is giving her district a choice of candidates instead of the status quo. She wants to remind them that local politics matters as much as the national elections. To that extent, she has been knocking on doors and talking to voters.

 

“We’re getting the word out; it’s great,” Tucker said. “We’re throughout the district at all kinds of events. People are busy. There are so many things going with their lives and I think there is so much attention on the national politics that sometimes state races get over looked -- at least these smaller state reps vs. comptroller or state senator or the congressional reps. So you know, I work extra hard to get out there and let people know they have a choice on the ballot Nov. 8th.”

 

She is happy that the voters of District 18 are provided with choices and that the election brings competition. It helps sire passion.

 

“I don’t think we have a viable candidate or a choice on the ballot in the 18th for quite some time,” Tucker said. “You have probably read the statistic that around 67 percent of all elections in the state are unopposed; that you don’t, as a voter, have a choice between candidates. I think that is unfortunate because when you have a competitive race, candidates have to get out there and earn their vote.”

Competitive races force candidates to work for the votes.

 

“They have to earn the voters’ respect and trust and talk about the issues rather than just getting by and [thinking] ‘I don’t have to campaign and I don’t have to do anything because I don’t have an opponent,’” Tucker said. “So, I think it’s great. We got a race in the 18th.”

 

For Tucker, the race is an important one. The lawyer, who is also a mother of three, served as Winnetka’s village trustee for two terms and was elected as Winnetka village president for two terms. She came to the presidency of at 2009, during the height of the recession.

 

“It was a huge fiscal focus to contain costs, to try and keep tax levees at or below the rate of inflation or neutral if you will – I mean to really hold the line so that we could be more efficient and effective and keep tax dollars in our residents’ pockets rather than asking more as government,” Tucker said. “It was a very tough time for everybody and it’s still a tough time coming out of the recession. Illinois has one of the slowest economic recoveries of any state from the recession.”

 

Tucker faced a tremendous challenge getting Winnetka’s fiscal house in order.

 

“It was very much a fiscal focus,” she said. “We did everything we could to balance our budget, maintain our credit ratings, reinvest in our communities, and be more efficient, collaborative, and effective with our neighboring communities and within our own community to hold the line and cost.”

 

Tucker initially wanted to finish her public servitude after her term as village president.

 

“Now I didn’t expect to run,” Tucker said. “I’m not a career politician. I didn’t expect [to run] after I served eight years at the local level. It was voluntary and unpaid -- which I think is the right way to do it because when you are unpaid you do it from the heart; you give back to your community because you’re passionate about good government, about your community, about the service you give your community. It’s not about the next election or [being] a career politician.”

 

She could not sit back and casually observe as the state crumbles.

“So I was like ‘eight years, gave my all to my community, I’m done,’” Tucker said. “And then this fiscal frustration of seeing the state and the unfunded mandate that came down to the local level and made it more difficult for all of us -- because those costs are passed right on to the taxpayers once again -- is just really frustrating.”

 

She concluded that her community convinced her to seek the candidacy.

 

“Many people in the community urged me after seeing [my] fiscal focus and [how we tried] to keep a lid on cost at the local level yet still provide the core services and do what we need to do to serve our community,” Tucker said. “[They] asked, ‘Would you please step up and run and give voters a choice on the ballot so we don’t have just the same old status quo business as usual that we are seeing in Springfield?'”

 

She hopes to bring this fiscal focus to Springfield, bringing all that she has learned as a servant of the Winnetka community to get Illinois back on track.