Four days after filing to run for Patti Bellock’s seat in the Illinois General Assembly, a Western Springs man withdrew from the race.
Anthony R. Arendt, 41, withdrew his nomination Friday to run in the Republican primary for the 47th House district, which means Deanne Marie Mazzochi of Elmhurst will run unopposed in the March 20 primary.
Arendt had just filed his petitions Dec. 4, the last day people to file to get on the ballot.
Arendt, a U.S. Navy veteran who grew up in La Grange, said he withdrew because he didn’t have enough support, he said.
“It’s a family decision,” he said.
After being discharged from the Navy in 2015, Arendt and his wife, who have three children, moved back to the Midwest to raise their family.
He has a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge and is working as the Midwest regional director of a nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition to non-military life.
Arendt said no one from the Republican Party encouraged him to withdraw.
“It was a personal decision,” Arendt said.
Mazzochi is an attorney and chairwoman of the College of DuPage Board.
Her campaign fund, Citizens for Mazzochi, had $200,771 in it as of Sept. 30, the end of the most recent quarterly filing period for campaign contributions.
The fund includes a $125,000 loan Mazzochi made to her campaign on Aug. 8.
A campaign fund for Arendt had not been started.
Bellock, a Republican from Hinsdale, announced in July she will not seek re-election to the Illinois House, where she has served since 1999.
Anne Sommerkamp of Downers Grove and Jim Caffrey of Elmhurst filed to run in the Democratic primary for the 47th District, which includes all or parts of Elmhurst, Oak Brook, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Westmont and Western Springs.
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