Kane County Treasurer Chris Lauzen announced he will seek a second – and final – term in the Nov. 3, 2026 general election.

His announcement does not state he is seeking the GOP nomination in the March 17, 2026, primary – but Lauzen is a Republican. He previously served as a state senator and Kane County Board chairman.

“I enjoy working for you as county treasurer,” Lauzen said in a news release. “Our team has demonstrated that we produce excellent results together. My promises made to you when elected Treasurer have been kept and expectations exceeded.”

Lauzen listed as his accomplishments $20 million in interest income instead of $2 million, providing accurate information from audited financial statements, being sympathetic while collecting $1.6 billion in property taxes and saving more than $600,000 by replacing a longtime bank.

In 2023, First American Bank, with more than $40 million on deposit from the county, notified Lauzen he had to follow seven initiatives related to data security and the bank’s online cash management system.

The bank gave him a deadline to implement them on or before Sept. 30 or find another bank. At the time, Lauzen instead sent out a request for proposals for a new bank.

Lauzen was seeking a final term as treasurer because four staff members, with a combined 113 years of experience, are retiring in the next five years, according to the release.

Replacements must be recruited, managed and trained up to “full-speed,” according to the release.

“This is not an easy task; consequences of failure would be crippling to county operations,” according to the release.

“I have the proven experience, skills and systems to successfully manage this transition to our next generation of stable, highly-qualified public administration of the treasury function,” Lauzen saod in the release.

Lauzen made his announcement at a home in Aurora, where, according to the release, he lived with his Grandpa George when he was 10.

Lauzen described his Grandpa George coming home from work and talking back to the news reports about his high property taxes – to which Lauzen would say, “But Grandpa, they can’t hear you.”

“Now it’s the politicians who don’t hear taxpayers’ concerns about being taxed out of their homes. Whether this is due to indifference, neglect, or incompetence, we taxpayers must push back,” Lauzen said in the release. “I am the serious, experienced and proven ‘anti-tax-increase’ candidate for Kane County Treasurer.”

In June, Lauzen was honored with the 2025 cashVest National Leadership Award for Financial Management from an investment consulting firm, three+one, that serves government and public schools.

Assuming Lauzen will run unopposed in the March 17 GOP primary, he would face whoever wins the Democratic primary.

Kane County Auditor Penny Wegman and a former employee of the treasurer’s office, Candida “Connie” Cain, are both seeking the Democratic nomination.

Wegman, a Democrat from Elgin, is in her second term as auditor and served one term previously on the county board.

In her first term, Wegman’s audit of the county’s procurement cards – credit cards known as p-cards – exposed that almmost $60,000 was spent to send one employee to DeVry University.

Last year, Wegman received the Innovator Award from the International Association of Government Officials at the annual conference in New Orleans – because of changes she initiated in the way p-cards were managed and documented.

Cain, formerly a Republican, changed parties and declared her candidacy as a Democrat.

A Certified Public Accountant from Gilberts, Cain had also worked in Lauzen’s office as director of financial operations from May 2023 until he fired her Nov. 22, 2024.

Cain blasted Lauzen publicly at the Nov. 27, 2024, Finance Committee, saying he lacks basic computer skills and withholds information from the Finance Department.

In an email response at the time, Lauzen lamented that Cain chose to make her grievances public.

“It is now obvious to me that I made a mistake when I hired her,” according to Lauzen’s email.

As to his lack of computer skills, Lauzen said he depends on his staff and the IT department to assist.