Former Dixon Mayor Li Arellano running for state Senate

DIXON – Li Arellano, who served eight years as Dixon’s mayor, has announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the race for the 37th Illinois Senate District.

State Sen. Win Stoller, R-Germantown Hills, currently holds the seat. Stoller announced in early September that he is retiring when his second term expires in January 2025.

Current Dixon City Council member Chris Bishop, in his second City Council term, announced in mid-September that he also is running for the Republican nomination for Stoller’s seat.

“I can’t sit idly by while our state declines,” Arellano said in a news release issued Thursday morning. “My passion and experience in local government, the military and small business along with my passion for tried-and-true conservative principles are exactly what our state needs, and that is why I am now stepping up to serve in the state Senate.”

The district includes all of Whiteside and Lee counties, most of Bureau County and portions of DeKalb, Ogle, Rock Island and La Salle counties.

Arellano, 42, completed eight years of service as mayor of Dixon in May. He said he was compelled to step up and run for mayor as a result of the embezzlement of $54 million by former Dixon City Comptroller Rita Crundwell.

Arellano pledged to rebuild the city’s badly damaged finances and said he did just that, ensuring generational pension debt was paid off and leaving the city on track to be debt free. He self-imposed a term limit and stuck to his pledge despite being elected twice with more than 60% of the vote, he said.

Arellano ran for the Republican nomination for the 74th Illinois House District in 2022, but he was defeated in the primary, losing to Dixon Republican Bradley Fritts.

Arellano is a lifelong conservative Republican and a small-business owner. He owns and operates a restaurant in Dixon and two in Rock Falls. As such, he said, he has dealt successfully with Illinois’ high taxes and regulations but also recent phenomena such as hyper-inflation and a labor shortage.

Arellano still serves in the U.S. Army Reserves and has been deployed three times to combat zones in the Middle East. He was motivated to join the Armed Forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said.

Arellano and his wife, Jamie, met in high school at Faith Christian School in Grand Detour and now have four children, ages 5 to 13. Arellano said he believes the state Senate needs more members raising young children for a proper balance in membership and intends to be a staunch advocate for working families.

He said he also believes the Senate needs more small-business people and people who know firsthand the negative effects of state policies and unfunded mandates on local government.

In 2015, Arellano’s wife left her job as a registered nurse to serve at the pro-life Hope Life Center. She served for three years until the birth of their fourth child. She recently returned to her career as an RN, joining the team at KSB Hospital in Dixon.

Arellano touted his other conservative credentials – he said he opposes abortion, supports the Second Amendment, and supports lower government spending and taxation.

Arellano said he opposes illegal immigration and does not want the cost of Chicago’s migrant crisis to be shared by communities that have not declared themselves a “sanctuary city.”

“Our state and country have taken a disastrous hard left turn,” he said in the news release. “I will work tirelessly to change the direction of our state.

“The rule of law has been diminished, and crime is out of control. Our state finances are also out of control and overtaxation is driving people out of our state. Freedoms have been taken away. I have experienced firsthand the new hardships small-business people are forced to endure. Public schools have been driven to indoctrinate children, and parental involvement has been deliberately excluded.

“I will also be an outspoken advocate against illegal immigration and state policies such as being a ‘sanctuary state.’ ”

Candidates could begin circulating nomination petitions Sept. 5. Candidates must file nomination papers between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 to be a general primary candidate. The primary election will be March 19.