A late entry into the race for the 8th Congressional District:
Lake Zurich, IL — The Joe Walsh for Congress Exploratory Committee is filing its paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission today. Joe Walsh is now an official candidate for the 8th District seat currently held by Melissa Bean and has begun raising the funds necessary to compete in the February Republican primary.
Mr. Walsh has spent the last few weeks meeting with voters, Republican Party officials, and conservative activists to assess the race. After an overwhelmingly positive response, Walsh formed an exploratory committee, launched a website (joewalshforcongress.com), evaluated campaign staff, and began collecting financial pledges for his potential run.
“I am running because I’ve had enough!” said Mr. Walsh. “Like people all over the 8th Congressional District, I am ticked off at how much money our government is spending and how quickly government is growing. I was born and raised in Barrington, and I want to stand up to what Washington is trying to do to our community, our state and our country.” Walsh has now raised more campaign cash than any of the announced candidates in the race. According to Mr. Walsh, “Based on the rate the money is coming in, we’ll raise $100,000 by the end of October and we’re committed to raising $100,000-150,000 every month until the primary.” The Walsh campaign expects to spend up to $500,000 to win the Republican primary and to raise an additional $2-3 million to wage a robust campaign against Ms. Bean.
Walsh says, “The people of the 8th Congressional District are desperate for representation in Washington that is not a rubber stamp for the pet projects and liberal special interests of Washington’s Democrat leadership. Melissa Bean ran as a moderate, pro-business, Democrat. Since the ascension of Nancy Pelosi to Speaker of the House, however, she has voted with Speaker Pelosi 90% of the time, including the wasteful stimulus package and costly cap-and-trade legislation. Illinois deserves better.”
Mr. Walsh owes his early fundraising success to his years of experience raising money for various non-profit and political causes as well as the connections he’s developed in his current career working to raise private equity investments for new and expanding businesses.
To learn more about Joe Walsh or his campaign, visit joewalshforcongress.com.