Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering Enters Attorney General Race

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering has begun a campaign for the Democratic nomination for Illinois Attorney General, circulating petitions and raising money to replace Lisa Madigan, who last month announced she would not be seeking another term in office. Rotering, who officially amended the purpose of her campaign committee Tuesday, became the second North Shore elected official to enter the race, following 58th District Rep. Scott Drury’s announcement last month he was abandoning his run for governer in favor or pursuing Madigan’s position.

Rotering grew up in Highland Park and was elected to its city council in 2009. She became the first woman to be elected mayor in 2011 and was reelected in 2015. She told Patch she has had a lifetime comittment to advocacy and a record of getting things done and is eager to have an opportunity to advocate for citizens across the state.

“One of the things that drives meis taking action on behalf of the people I represent. Whether its taking on ComEd, standing up to the NRA, addressing corruption and even founding a legal aid clinic, this is where my public service has been focused,” Rotering said. “So when this opportunity arose it seemed like a natural fit.”

Rotering, who has spent time in the private sector as an attorney and in finance working for GM’s treasurer, said she will bring a range of skills to the table from her time time in public service. She cited her seven years of experience executing laws as mayor, expertise crafting laws on city council and as a legislative aide in the General Assembly, plus her time as an attorney helping more than 400 clients through the Highland Park-Highwood Legal Aid Clinic, which she founded in 2015. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Highland Park — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Rotering told Patch she can bring “all of those skill sets – as well as having run challenging races and raised significant money for those races – to the campaign, and then to sitting as attorney general.” She received more than 46 percent of the vote last year in an unsuccessful challenge to U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider in last year’s Democratic primary, a race in which she was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board.

If elected, among the issues Rotering hopes to focus on are environmental protections–like emissions standards for coal-fired plants she warned Gov. Bruce Rauner was threatening to roll back–and public corruption. The citizens of Illinois are tired of the “wink and the nod, the handshake and the inefficiency that corruption brings” to state government, she said.

One of Rotering's most notable accomplishments as mayor has been the successful legal fight against an NRA-backed lawsuit over Highland Park’s ordinance banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“We knew we had tremendous opposition, but we also knew that the people of Highland Park felt very strongly about our supporting it, and it was absolutely not a question that we were going to move forward and advocate and take necessary action on behalf of our people.” The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a challenge to the ordinance in 2015, letting stand a decision from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the ban.

While Highland Park’s ban on military-grade firearms became a model ordinance throughout the country, the Illinois Concealed Carry Act has prevented other municipalities from following suit.

“Other Illinois municipalities should be able to have this conversation and take action if so desired,” Rotering said. “There’s a broad range of opportunity for an attorney general who is tapped in to both what is going on on the ground, what the trends are moving forward and what is happening at the national level.”

Only one Republican, downstate attorney and ex-Congressional candidate Erika Harold, has so far announced a campaign for attorney general. The former Miss America has the support of Gov. Rauner and dozens of state legislators. State Sen. Kwame Raoul of Chicago has declared he is running as a in the Democratic primary. Other possible candidates reportedly considering a run include Chicago police oversight board chair Sharon Fairley and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

Primaries for the 2018 election will be held March 20 with nominees facing each other on Nov. 6.

_{Top photo: Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering | Official portrait}