State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, 56, is the incumbent Democrat in this south suburban district. DeLuca is a former mayor of south suburban Chicago Heights, and we applauded him for introducing legislation in the spring to prohibit municipalities from taxing companies based on the number of workers they employ (see: head tax). We thanked DeLuca at the time for attempting to rein in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s worst impulses, and we remain grateful for the initiative. He’s a moderate Democrat and has consistently shown he is willing to think independently. “I will not support higher taxes and throwing more money at a broken system in need of reform, because if we did, it would be a short-term fix without long-term reform and financial stability,” he told us in response to our question as to whether he’d support a millionaire tax, though he did signal openness to the idea.
This November, DeLuca again squares off against Republican Adam Beaty, his 2024 opponent. We like Beaty’s law enforcement background, especially given the focus on Illinois’ public safety challenges and the needed reforms to electronic monitoring. Still, we see no reason to change our endorsement of DeLuca.
Anthony DeLuca is endorsed.
Read all of the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for the 2026 Illinois general election here.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].