Name: Neil “Muggsy” Gallagher

What office are you seeking: Will County Board District 2

What is your political party?

What is your current age? 52

Occupation and employer: Ag Retail Sales with AgAligned

What offices, if any, have you previously held? N/A

City: Manhattan

Campaign website: N/A

Education: Associates Degree, JJC

Community involvement: Providence Catholic High School Men’s Club

Executive Committee Member, Manhattan Irish Fest

Marital status/Immediate family: Married, 2 children

What are your top three priorities for this district?

The real leadership I will provide for this district will protect farmland, get trucks out of our communities and stop my Republican opponents’ attempts to fund services for illegal immigrants. And I’ll work to lower taxes on Will County residents.

What types of job growth are needed in Will County to help residents keep up with rising costs, especially housing?

Will County is a leader in job growth in Illinois. However, we need to keep property taxes low to attract investment in manufacturing to help create good paying jobs for the middle-class. Costs continue to rise and more warehouse jobs will never create income levels necessary for workers to afford housing. Our focus should be on adding more middle-class jobs, not more trucks.

What should be infrastructure priorities and projects over the next four years?

Responsible and sustainable growth will be my priorities for Will County. When it comes to infrastructure priorities, I will do everything possible to get trucks off our roads and out of communities. We are losing our rural identity with every semi that comes roaring through our downtowns and neighborhoods.

What is your position on data centers? Should the county be open to their development?

Data centers are raising costs for all of us be it through added energy costs or rising water usage. While the jobs they provide can be helpful, data centers need to figure out a better way to operate before I think they are a benefit to our communities.

Do you favor solar farm development? Should the county encourage more sustainable energy development?

I support responsible energy development, but I strongly oppose the state taking away local control over where and how solar farms are built.

Will County’s economy depends on agriculture, and we cannot keep taking productive farmland out of use for massive solar projects. That hurts farmers, food production, and our local economy.

I also have real concerns about large-scale solar in northern Illinois—its efficiency, its long-term economic viability, and what happens if government subsidies disappear. Those are fair questions that deserve honest answers, not mandates from Springfield.

I’m open to discussing sustainable energy options, but only if they make sense locally, respect property rights, and actually lower energy costs for Will County families. Local decisions should be made locally, with the people who live here—not imposed from the top down.

What should be the county’s spending priorities?

My Republican opponents voted to fund services for illegal immigrants. This is absolutely crazy, we need to make sure Will County residents, not illegal immigrants, have the services they need. I will make sure that needed county services like law enforcement and the State’s Attorney office are funded and will reject all efforts to fund services for people who are in this country illegally.