Elmhurst alderman Chris Nybo won a convincing victory in the bitter Republican primary race in the 41st District of the Illinois General Assembly. Nybo received 5,890 votes or 46 percent of the vote to win the five-way race.
He now is the heavy favorite to succeed retiring state Rep. Bob Biggins (R-Elmhurst). In November, Nybo will face Brian Stephenson, a LaGrange Park attorney, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
DuPage County Board member Brien Sheahan finished a distant second with 3,564 votes or 27.8 percent. Raphael Rivadeneira (15.1 percent), Mike Manzo (6.4 percent) and Matt Burden (4.7 percent) trailed far behind.
The 41st district ranges from Lombard east to the western part of Riverside and includes parts of Brookfield and the western half of North Riverside.
Nybo ran strongest in the Cook County portion of the district where he received 54.5 percent of the vote compared to just 18.6 percent of the Cook County vote for Sheahan. Nybo, 32, had the support of many local government officials in Cook County including North Riverside Mayor Ken Krochmal and former Riverside Village President Jack Wiaduck. Nybo is closely allied with Illinois state Sen. Dan Cronin, who on Feb. 2 won the GOP primary for DuPage County Board chairman. Nybo, who managed Cronin’s 2002 state senate campaign, was also supported by the Proviso Township Republican organization.
Nybo also benefited from a story published a week before the primary on the Web site of a Naperville-based organization called Republicans for Family Values, accusing DuPage County chairman candidate Debra Olsen, a married woman, of having extramarital affairs with a married Wheaton lawyer and with Sheahan.
The article, which included a photo of Sheahan, alleged that Sheahan and Olson had an affair in 2004 and 2005 when Sheahan was single. The article said that Olson’s husband, Don, was a source for the story.
Sheahan did not respond to requests for comment on the article, but e-mailed a statement about the election results.
“I called Chris Tuesday night to congratulate him on a resounding victory and to offer my full support in the general election,” wrote Sheahan. “Chris was very gracious. He worked hard and ran a great campaign. I wish him the best of luck in the future.”
Manzo, whom Nybo had charged during the campaign with being in the race to help Sheahan, was not so polite in his comments about Nybo.
“He ran a dirty campaign from start to finish,” said Manzo, who is the chief of staff for Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
Manzo, whose wife ran on a ticket with Sheahan for the DuPage County Board in the Republican primary in 2008, said that forces close to Cronin and Nybo smeared Sheahan in that campaign.
“They started a campaign against Brien Sheahan, a whispering campaign,” Manzo said. “Now, you know here we go 20 months later, they call him an adulterer. … But it doesn’t matter. They don’t care. The truth does not matter to these people.
“This is the reason I won’t endorse Chris Nybo. I will not support the Democrat. I won’t vote for the Democrat.”
Nybo declined to comment when asked about the Republican for Family Values article, saying he won the primary because he kept his campaign focused on the issues.
“I think we kept our campaign focused on what people were concerned about and not quibbling about our opponents or their records,” Nybo said. “At the end of the day, each of the candidates needs to live with the type of campaign that they ran and, you know, we can hold our head up high.”