Travis Breeden announces new bid for statehouse in 2022

Utica Republican hopes to top Yednock in rematch

He was a first-time candidate for statehouse who last fall came within 4,400 votes of unseating the Democratic incumbent. Now, Republican Travis Breeden wants to finish the job.

Monday, the commercial feeder truck driver and member of Local Teamsters 710 announced he’s running again to unseat state Rep. Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa). Breeden is a Republican precinct committeeman who describes himself as “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment” and “running to lower taxes in Illinois and stop the mass exodus of people leaving the state.”

Yednock topped Breeden 4,378 votes, including 3,484 from La Salle County, in the Nov. 3 election. Breeden said the state’s continued financial woes and Yednock and the Democrats’ “unwillingness” to enact structural reforms prompted him to mount a campaign for the 2022 election.

“Illinois is facing some very serious financial challenges and the only thing Lance Yednock seems to be doing is describing the problem instead of finding solutions,” Breeden said. “Illinois continues to lose population because of the terrible economic policies that have made Illinois one of the highest taxed states in the country.

“Lance Yednock is the poster child for the failed economic policies of the past. It is time for a new direction in Illinois and we won’t get that with Lance Yednock.”

Breeden said despite the state’s extensive budget shortfall, Yednock “is voting for massive new spending bills” including a health care package that could run up to $12 billion.

“There is nothing wrong with trying to find ways to improve healthcare options for those in need but given the state’s financial situation we should be looking at ways to reduce spending costs instead of creating new programs,” Breeden said.

“The reality is that Lance Yednock cannot talk about tax reform, spending reform or pension reform because he is bought and paid forby the insiders who benefit from the failed policies coming from Springfield,” Breeden said. “The only way we are going to put our state on the right path financially is to vote out the career politicians like Lance Yednock who have created this mess in the first place.”

At a press event at Sunfield Restaurant in Ottawa, Breeden also called out Yednock for his slow response to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home at La Salle. He stood behind a lectern with a political sign displaying his name and the title “tax cutter.”

Yednock said he was alerted to Breeden’s announcement but deferred comment at this early stage of the campaign.