Illinois House deputy majority leader resigns


Arthur Turner II (D), formerly the Deputy Majority Leader in the Illinois House of Representatives, resigned on July 3. He had represented the 9th District in the chamber since 2011. Turner’s father, Arthur Turner, previously held the seat from 1981 until his son took office.
Turner did not file for re-election this year. Lakesia Collins won the Democratic primary in the district on March 17 with 46% of the vote. The Republican primary was canceled. Collins is running unopposed in the general election on November 3. Officials from the Democratic Party committee in Turner’s district will appoint a replacement to serve until the end of his term, which expires in January 2021.
There are nine open seats in the Illinois House of Representatives elections this year in which the incumbent did not file for re-election, including Turner’s. That’s the fewest number of any election in the chamber in the last decade. Of the incumbents who did not file for re-election, six are Republicans and three are Democrats. Two incumbents were defeated in the March primaries, both Democrats who had been appointed to their positions.
In the 2018 elections, which had the most open seats of any election since 2010, Democrats increased their seat holdings in the Illinois House from 67-51 to 74-44. The gain created a supermajority for the party in the chamber.
Additional reading: