Elmhurst Lawmaker Way Ahead In Fundraising

ELMHURST, IL – State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, an Elmhurst Republican, is way ahead in fundraising for the 2022 election.

As of March 31, Mazzochi reported she had $206,000 in her campaign bank account. Her Democratic opponent, Jenn Ladisch Douglass, had $10,000. Both candidates are lawyers.

The question is whether the Democratic Party and its affiliated organizations plan to invest in Douglass' campaign.

In response to a Patch inquiry, Douglass, an Elmhurst resident, said she had party support in the race.

In 2020, the Democratic Party contributed to Clarendon Hills resident Jennifer Zordani's campaign against Mazzochi. But Mazzochi prevailed with 54 percent of the vote.

That was during an election that was seen as favorable to suburban Democrats. This year, by contrast, is shaping up to be a good one for Republicans.

Mazzochi represents the 47th House District, but she is running in the 45th because of redistricting.

Over the last two years, Mazzochi has mainly focused on her differences with Democrats over economic and ethics issues.

In 2020, Patch unearthed old tweets from Mazzochi in which she dealt with social issues.

In Mazzochi's "Snark of the Day" posts from 2016, she took shots at transgender people, explained why a "white, male Republican" president was best for liberty and asserted that President Barack Obama sought revenge against "colonialist white men."

Mazzochi's campaign at the time declined to answer questions about the posts.

But a spokesman for Mazzochi's biggest individual contributor, Ken Griffin, told Patch in 2020 the lawmaker's 2016 posts did not represent the billionaire's values. Griffin donated $200,000 to Mazzochi's campaign before Patch's story was published.

Mazzochi wrote some of the posts while she was chairman of the College of DuPage Board of Trustees. She joined the state House in 2018.