Republican Exploring Bid for New 8th District is Assistant DuPage State's Attorney, Elmhurst College Grad

A DuPage County prosecutor is exploring a possible bid for Congress.

On Thursday morning, Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Rick Veenstra announced that he is exploring a campaign for Congress in the newly drawn Illinois 8th Congressional District.

Veenstra stressed he is not a confirmed candidate but is merely testing the waters.

“I’ve been out talking with people in the new district, with the community and party leaders to get their feelings on a possible run,” Veenstra said Thursday afternoon as he drove back from the State Fair in Springfield, which is one of the early kickoff events of a new electoral season.

The 8th Congressional District, which stretches from O’Hare Airport to Elgin and up to Wheeling, is a new construct by the Illinois legislature. There is no current representative of the district, which was created from three districts currently represented by Republican lawmakers in the 6th, the old 8th and the 14th districts. None of the three incumbents, Peter Roskam, Joe Walsh or Randy Hultgren, reside in the new 8th District. If one of those Republican incumbents opts to run in the new district, Veenstra said he would step aside and support their candidacy.

The Republican Party has filed a legal challenge to the new Congressional maps drawn by the Democratic majority in Springfield. Veenstra said he’s hopeful the lawsuit is successful and forces new districts that are more fairly drawn.

“That could change everything and I don’t want to officially declare my candidacy until we know more,” he said. “But until we know more, I’m going to be out there talking with the people about what kind of representation they want and deserve in Washington.”

Veenstra, who currently serves on the Addison Planning Commission, said a congressional campaign was not on his mind several months ago. However, he said the “events in Washington” changed that.

“If there's any lesson that our elected representatives should have learned from the last two elections, it is that people are tired of business as usual and want leaders who will go to Washington to solve problems rather than create more of them,” Veenstra said.

Jobs are the primary concern of everyone he’s spoken with, he said. Looking at the high rate of unemployment in the Chicago area, Veenstra said the administration of President Barack Obama has done nothing to stimulate job growth.

“We need more people in Congress who understand that burdening businesses, particularly small businesses, with excessive regulation and high taxes is not the path to job growth,” said Veenstra, an Elmhurst College graduate.

Prior to establishing his exploratory committee, Veenstra sat with his boss, DuPage State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, to discuss the possibilities. Veenstra said Berlin, who will top the GOP ticket in DuPage County next election, approved of the exploratory idea.

A lifelong resident of Addison, Veenstra said he is a fiscal and social conservative. He said he’s spent most of his adult life in public service, whether serving as a prosecuting attorney or on an Addison board. During college, Veenstra spent time working with the late Rep. Henry Hyde and members of the Illinois General Assembly. Veenstra is also national co-chairman of the Young Republican National Federation. 

On the Democratic side, Harvard graduate Raja Krishnamoorthi, 37, of Hoffman Estates is making a bid for the new district.

“People are experiencing unacceptably hard times, and we need a Representative who is focused like a laser on strengthening the middle class and creating jobs,” Krishnamoorthi said on his Web site.

Krishnamoorthi, a former deputy Treasurer for Illinois, currently serves as president of Sivananthan Laboratories, a defense and energy research company based in Bolingbrook.