Lake County Gazette

Republican Martin Blumenthal failed to unseat incumbent state Rep. Scott Drury (D-Highwood) in the District 58 race Tuesday, but despite his loss he felt he ran a great campaign and is proud of his accomplishments.

Blumenthal ran because he was concerned with the financial state of Illinois and how it was affected constituents.

“Illinois is in dangerous financial shape. We are second highest in the nation in property taxes. The debt is $25,000 per person. Business and people are leaving for other states at an alarming rate,” he said in a statement cited by BallotPedia. “I want to make Illinois attractive again to businesses, especially to manufacturers and the jobs they bring. I want to reduce the crushing property tax burden on homeowners and business. Superior education should be available to all Illinois children regardless of their location. Our environment and drinking water must be safeguarded.”

Martin Blumenthal is especially proud that he ran such a good campaign with such a small base to work with. | Contributed photo

According to BallotPedia, Blumenthal received his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Illinois in 1974 and his juris doctorate from Chicago Kent College of Law in 1981. He has been an attorney in private practice since 1982, and is the director of the Chicago Center for Neurological Research, the director and treasurer for Central Avenue Synagogue and the incoming director for Children of Heroes, a non-profit organization that focuses on educating and mentoring the children of fallen military personnel.

“Would I have been happier if I won? Of course. But I felt it was a good campaign; it was a lot of work,” Blumenthal recently told the Lake County Gazette. “We did pretty well in my county -- it was the Cook County voters that turned the tide in Scott’s favor.”

Blumenthal is especially proud that he ran such a good campaign with such a small base to work with.

“It was all grass roots -- it was just friends, acquaintances that helped me. I got zero help from the state party- they kind of abandoned me and (GOP state Senate candidate) Ben Salzberg from the beginning… which they should have told us… but we did the best we could with the limited resources that we had.”

When asked about the Republican success in breaking the democratic supermajority in the state house, he said many were aware of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s (D-Chicago) supermajority and that Republicans had to pick up one seat in the house, and four or five in the Senate.

“The next step after that is to get a majority, but it’s going to take time, and without a balanced budget, the state’s not going anywhere,” he said. “Everyone’s suffering for it and people are leaving, and businesses are leaving, taking jobs with them. I still think we can reverse the trend, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

And when asked if he would run again, he laughed.

“Right now it’s just such a relief not to have to go to another event, or go to another fundraiser, or raise funds,” he said. “I never say never again, but right now my political aspirations are satisfied at the moment.”

His parting thoughts on the campaign were flattering to his opponent, but foreboding of the Democratic political machine.

“Scott Drury proved to be a person of integrity, and a good opponent...we actually agree on some issues, some we don’t agree on, but that’s where we differ… there was no mudslinging or any of that junk that make people hate politics,” he said. “I just guess the voters in the district like what Madigan is doing, and they wanted to elect a Democrat there.

"What can I tell ya? That’s just the way it is.”