GOP Nominee For Weller Seat To Withdraw From Race

The Republican nominee for retiring Rep. Jerry Weller’s (R-Ill.) seat will be withdrawing from the hotly-contested Congressional campaign Saturday morning, according to two GOP operatives in Illinois.

“It’s pretty much a done deal,” said one Illinois GOP operative.

New Lenox mayor Tim Baldermann, whose campaign was dogged by fundraising woes, never was able to garner much momentum in his campaign to succeed Weller in the GOP-leaning exurban Chicago district.

Leading Republicans in House leadership gave money to Baldermann’s campaign, but he never was able to garner much financial support from individual contributors.

Baldermann told his local newspaper last month that he had “done very little fundraising,” raising concerns among the party establishment.

"I have done very little fundraising. It makes me sick to my stomach. My campaign people gave me a list of people who gave money to (Weller). I told them, 'If you think I'm going to call somebody who's never heard of me and ask for $2,300, that's insane.' I fight with them every single day over it,” Baldermann told the Southtown Star newspaper in January.

But Baldermann handily won the GOP primary for the seat last month, easily outdistancing two little-known GOP rivals.

Democrats have targeted this seat as one of their top pickup opportunities and their nominee, state Senate President Debbie Halvorson, has been one of the party’s strongest fundraisers this election cycle.
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