Three congressional candidates vying to serve different parts of the Northwest or West suburbs will find out early next month if they’ll appear on March 2026 primary ballots or be booted.

On the hot seat are Democrat Mark J. Pasieka Sr., a Chicagoan running in the 3rd District; and two Republicans running in the 11th District, Tedora Brown of Palos Park and Michael Pierce of Naperville.

The objections allege their candidate petitions contain signatures from people who aren’t registered voters or who live outside a given congressional district, and that as such the candidates should be disqualified. Representatives of the Brown and Pierce campaigns rejected those claims.

The Illinois State Board of Elections is scheduled to rule on these and other objections Jan. 7. The meeting will be livestreamed at youtube.com/@IllinoisSBE.

The board already has removed Republican Spomenka Vajic of Chicago from 3rd District ballots and Democrat John Minarcik of Zion from 10th District ballots because they didn’t gather enough petition signatures. Other candidates have survived challenges.

An objection to Pasieka’s candidacy was jointly filed by Addison resident Maria D. Sinkule and Chicagoan Jason Christopher Dones. They say Pasieka didn’t get enough signatures of registered 3rd District voters to qualify.

Pasieka is challenging U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez of Chicago in the Democratic primary. If Pasieka is removed from the ballot, Ramirez would be unopposed for the nomination.

Noting that Ramirez has more than $1 million in her campaign coffers, Pasieka said the effort to knock him off the ballot “is American politics and why politics is broken.”

Angel Oakley is the only Republican who’ll be on the ballot in the 3rd District. Pasieka said he’ll support Oakley if he’s disqualified.

The 3rd District encompasses parts of suburban Cook and DuPage counties and some Chicago neighborhoods.

The objection to Brown’s paperwork was filed by Blanca Souders of Elburn. Souders claims Brown’s petition didn’t have enough valid signatures, among other issues.

Lauren Stephens, a Brown campaign representative, insisted Brown gathered more than enough signatures. Some of the signatures that were singled out as bogus are those of Brown’s relatives, Stephens said.

“I wouldn’t anticipate that there are any problems in January,” Stephens said.

The objection to Pierce’s petition was filed by Tammy Jo Pappas of Geneva. Pappas claims Pierce’s petition didn’t have enough valid signatures and had other problems. She also alleged Pierce doesn’t live at the address listed on his paperwork.

Pierce campaign consultant Jon A. Zahm on Tuesday acknowledged the candidate owns a second house in Belvidere that was purchased for his son. Zahm also said Pierce’s petition contains well over the minimum number of valid signatures needed.

Zahm called the attempt to knock Pierce off the ballot “false and desperate.”

Brown and Pierce are among four Republicans running in the 11th District, which encompasses portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties. The other two GOP candidates are Elburn Mayor Jeff Walter and Aurora resident Charles Kim.

The incumbent, Bill Foster of Naperville, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251223/us-congress-politics/why-three-congressional-candidates-could-be-booted-from-the-ballot/