GOP candidate for 17th District drops out; another one on deck

A Republican businessman and philanthropist from Galesburg who announced plans to try to unseat freshman Democratic U.S. Rep Eric Sorensen is dropping out of the race.

Another GOP candidate, however, is waiting in the wings.

Rafael “Ray” Estrada announced in April that he would challenge the former Moline weatherman now occupying the seat formerly held by fellow Democrat Cheri Bustos.

Instead, the 56-year-old is postponing his run, he said Tuesday.

“It saddens me to withdraw from the race, but after careful consideration and discussions with my family, I feel the timing is wrong for my candidacy this election cycle and I have decided to postpone my campaign for Congress in the 17th Congressional District in Illinois to focus my time on my family and my philanthropic endeavors,” Estrada said in a statement.

Estrada, whose family fled civil war in Nicaragua 44 years ago, is president of the nonprofit Estrada Global Foundation, which provides aid to refugees.

He was the only declared candidate for the seat, but retired 17th Circuit Court Judge Joe McGraw, also a Rockford Republican, is holding an event at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at Franchesco’s Ristorante, where he plans to announce his candidacy.

Potential candidates must file nomination papers between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 to run in the March 19 primary.

McGraw was appointed a circuit judge in January 2002 and retired July 5 after more than 21 years. He was chief judge from Jan. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2017, the 17th Judicial Circuit said on its website in a May news release announcing his retirement.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of the 17th Circuit and the state of Illinois as a circuit judge ...,” McGraw said in the release.

“Although this chapter is concluding, I look forward to serving in a new way in the future, as God directs.”

In addition to presiding over a specialized gun offense felony caseload in Winnebago County, McGraw also oversaw PATH Court, a multidisciplinary court response to human trafficking, the release said.

Sorensen won the 17th District House seat after beating GOP challenger Esther Joy King in 2022. Bustos narrowly defeated her before that.

The National Republican Campaign Committee has said it is putting a bullseye on Sorensen and at least three dozen other 36 “vulnerable” Democrats in 2024, Politico has reported.

The 17th District includes most of northwestern Illinois, including Whiteside and Carroll counties, as well as parts of Rockford and Peoria.