'Vocal Pro-Union Republican' Makes 2nd Run For State Senate

SHOREWOOD, IL — More than 180 people attended Monday night's campaign announcement at Skooter's Roadhouse for Republican Tom McCullagh. He is making his second run against Democrat Meg Loughran Cappel to represent the voters in the State Senate's 49th District.

McCullagh said his campaign intends to restore public safety, bring fiscal sanity to Illinois and fight for the rights of the citizens.

“An elected representative’s first obligation is to public safety, and our current State Senator is an abject failure in this category," McCullagh stated. "I stand strongly with law enforcement. Our families deserve to be kept safe.”

McCullagh said he is a small business owner who invests heavily in the community. He noted that he is on the executive board of K9s for Veterans, Forgotten Warriors Memorial and he is a member of The Lions Club. He said he focuses on suicide prevention, sexual trauma, and PTSD treatments for veterans and police officers.

According to his campaign, "McCullagh is a vocal pro-union Republican who seeks to protect pensions; and advocates strongly for vocational and trade school programs. Public safety is a priority ... When Tom is elected to the Illinois State Senate, he will work for tax and fee relief, restoring fiscal sanity to Illinois, restoring and protecting freedoms such as the Second Amendment, and ending corruption."

The 49th Legislative District includes all of or part of the communities of Aurora, Bolingbrook, Boulder Hill, Channahon, Crest Hill, Joliet, Montgomery, Naperville, Oswego, Plainfield, Romeoville and Shorewood.

The district is mostly in Will County, but a small portion is in Kendall County.

In the November 2020 general election, Cappel defeated McCullagh by roughly 12,700 votes, garnering at least 60,700 votes, 55.8 percent, to McCullagh's total of approximately 48,100 votes, which was 44.2 percent.