Dennis Hastert - Election To Congress and Early Congressional Career

Election To Congress and Early Congressional Career

In January, 1986, John Grotberg, the Congressman from Illinois's 14th congressional district, was undergoing cancer treatment at NIH and experienced a coma that lasted five weeks. Grotberg started rehabilitation as he came out of the coma, but by June was still not well enough to run for office and withdrew his name from the ballot. (He died on November 15). As this was an unprecedented situation, the twelve county chairmen would seek legal guidance on the correct procedure to choose his successor.

WLBK/DeKalb's Program Director Mark Powell, 26, waged a protest campaign on local radio complaining that the GOP leadership planned to "hand pick" Hastert as successor without popular approval, and that Hastert did not live in the congressional district until the nomination.

Hastert was nominated by the Republican congressional district convention held at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. This convention was attended by all precinct committee members from within the represented district. Each was assigned a weighted vote based upon the total number of Republican ballots cast in their respective precincts in the most recent primary election. Dr. Richard Verbic, Mayor of Elgin, Illinois, was the only other candidate to be nominated that day. (Mayor Verbic had been defeated by Grotberg in the 1984 GOP primary.)

After long hours of voting, it became clear that the majority of votes were going toward Hastert. A motion was made to suspend voting and to nominate Hastert. The convention acclaimed Denny Hastert its nominee.

The nomination was not without controversy. Hastert's detractors complained that Grotberg's condition had been distorted and Mayor Verbic had been smeared for his age. This controversy dogged Hastert through the general election, which would be his closest race for Congress. Hastert faced Democrat Mary Lou Kearns, the coroner of Kane County. Hastert ran a typical GOP campaign in a strongly Republican district and received 52 percent of the vote. On February 2, 2010 Hastert's son Ethan lost a bid for the GOP nomination.

After that, he never faced another election nearly that close, especially after redistricting in the 1990s made the district even more Republican.

During his first twelve years in Congress, Hastert generally kept a low profile. However, he worked closely with Illinois Republican leaders, especially Minority Leader Robert Michel. After the Republicans took control of the House in 1994, Hastert was named Chief Deputy Whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican caucus. In this position, he was chief vote-counter for then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay.