Lake Bluff Man Plans Run for 10th District Representative

A resident of Lake Bluff is seeking to run for the Illinois 10th District office in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Joseph W. Kopsick, known as "Joe," grew up in the area and attended Lake Forest High School, graduating in 2005. He has experience in politics, having run for U.S. House of Representatives seats in both Wisconsin and Oregon as an Independent. Now, he hopes to be endorsed by the Illinois Libertarian Party and take on Republican Bob Dold and Democrat Brad Schneider in the 10th District election come November.

“I believe both those candidates support larger government and bigger budgets, less restrained spending and will not do enough for personal freedom,” Joe said of Dold, the incumbent and Schneider, the challenger and former officeholder.

Joe, who operates a regularly published blog and is the creator of the “Market Anarchy” group on Facebook, is not on the ballot yet. Right now he’s listed as a “New Party” candidate and has garnered 20 signatures on his petition. In total, he needs at least 9,573 to be listed on the official ballot in the 10th District and 15,000 to avoid a possible objection.

Personal freedom and less government interference in state issues are the platforms behind Kopsick’s campaign. He would like to introduce legislation to “restore our 2nd amendment rights” and is pro-choice, but does not believe it is the government’s responsibility to fund Planned Parenthood.

Due to the state’s “Sore Loser Law,” Joe was not able to be listed as an Independent in his vie for the 10th District office. That’s because he took a Democratic ballot in the Illinois primary in order to vote for Bernie Sanders for President. On that same ballot, he said he did put in a vote for Schneider, who defeated Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering in the primary.

“The ballot was right in front of me, so I might as well have voted for somebody,” he said.

As of now, Joe is still awaiting the possible Libertarian endorsement. While supporting other third parties in the past, he feels a strong connection to the Libertarian group because of the three most important messages he sees as in relation to his campaign, which are a “balanced budget,” “support of personal freedom” and “respecting the rights of other countries by minding our own business.”