Will County Board Minority Leader and District 7 Member Mike Fricilone, of Homer Glen, announced June 11 that he will run as a Republican candidate for the United States Congressional District 3 seat currently held by Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Democrat.

The Primary Election will be March 17 next year, and Fricilone, 64, said he decided to run because “it was time for a credible, honest candidate” on the Republican ticket, noting that self-avowed neo-Nazi and white supremacist Arthur Jones was the party’s representative in the same race for the previous election cycle last year when no one else was on the ballot for the party.

“My experience at Will County with financing gives me a good base that I can represent well,” Fricilone said.

The politician has served on the Will County Board since 2012 and has been the Finance Committee Chair and Vice Chair of the Capital Committee.  

He said “the economy is rocking right now” due to policies put in place by the current administration, and that he plans to help keep the economy rolling if elected.

“The thing about this district is it is good, hardworking individuals,” Fricilone said. “When you work that hard, you need to keep more of what you make, not give it away to people not wanting to work as hard.”

The Will County Board member went on to note that while in his current role, the Republican caucus has looked at how to help people the most, pointing to the County having reduced the tax rate for the past four years.

He said a key was looking at a budget and being able to allocate resources where the biggest bang for the buck could be had, citing an example of reducing overtime in the Will County Sheriff’s Office and putting a few more people on staff, costing less than the overtime spending.

“We want to make sure every penny spent by the government is efficient to reduce burden,” he said. “People take a look at a budget and say how do we decrease it next year, but I don’t see anybody looking at the budget to say what duplication of effort do we have and what waste do we have?”

That call for efficiency will be a main point of his campaign platform, also working to reduce regulations so small businesses can grow while avoiding different departments doing the same things to reduce costs.

Other main campaign focuses will be strengthening workforce training opportunities, providing for veterans and improving sustainability efforts in the district, according to Fricilone.

“I believe in sustainability,” he said. “I’m a very green person. I think we need to have two components, that things are financially beneficial, as well as environmentally beneficial.”

A County example he gave in that regard was of solar energy panels for the new Will County Courthouse that will provide 7 percent of the energy for the building, showing they make sense from both an environmental and financial standpoint.

As he is just starting out in the early portion of the race, he plans to start reaching out to friends and organizations in different communities across the district and start having events and meet and greets.

He said it was a combination of his own interest in running and others encouraging him to jump in the race that helped him make the final decision to run.

“People in the party are excited about the fact of having somebody credible for a change, somebody they can get behind,” Fricilone said.

Fricilone is the executive director of Midwest Office Interiors in Woodridge and has been involved in community service, including serving as president of the Lockport Township High School Foundation, a member of the Finance Committee at his parish, St. Bernard Catholic Church in Homer Glen, being an Executive Board member with the Children Advocacy Center and as former vice president of the Order Sons of Italy in America.

The U.S. Congressional District 3 race has drawn considerable attention on the local and national level as of late, with Lipinski, known for traditionally being a more conservative member in his party, securing 51 percent of the vote in the 2018 primary to defeat Marie Newman, a progressive who is already in the running to challenge him again in 2020.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen on the other side,” Fricilone said of the Democratic race. “I can’t guess which person will be the victor on that side of the aisle.”

Fricilone added that with Lipinski and Lipinski’s father, Bill, holding the congressional seat between the two of them for decades, change would be good for the office, as there continues to be a lot of change going on in the country.

The Homer Horizon reached out to a Lipinski aide for comment on Fricilone throwing his name into the ring.

“Right now, I’m focused on taking care of the everyday concerns of people in the district and working to deliver relief for middle-class families with better job opportunities, improved infrastructure, more affordable healthcare and college education, safer gun laws, and lower taxes,” Lipinski said, according to the aide.

In November of last year, Lipinski defeated Jones soundly, securing 73 percent of the vote. In what has been a blue collar, Democrat-siding district, the outcome of the current race remains anybody’s guess.

Steve Balich, a longtime friend and Republican ally of Fricilone and fellow District 7 Will County Board member, said he believes Fricilone will win the 3rd District race whether facing off against Lipinski, Newman or someone else.

“Mike is one of the best people I’ve ever met with finding ways to fund projects without raising taxes,” Balich said.

He estimated that he and Fricilone agree “probably 95 percent of the time,” and that his fellow Will County Board member for District 7 is “one of the most-level headed guys you could meet who is able to see two sides of the coin.”

Balich said those in his party are concerned about Newman’s progressive background and Lipinski also moving more to the left upon facing pressure from inside his party.

“It’s a good thing we have a real, viable choice this time,” Balich said. “I believe [Fricilone] will make a real good representative. I’ll be out there working my butt off for him [on the campaign trail].”

For Fricilone, another motivating factor is thinking about his grandchildren and future generations.

“I look through the eyes of my grandkids and wonder what this country will look like when they are in their teens and in high school, going to college, making sure there are opportunities for them, instilling in them hard work and the American dream,” Fricilone said. “… What is the future for them and helping them benefit in the long term.”