Carbondale Reporter

In a Nov. 14 Facebook post, Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Harrsiburg) shared an interview he'd done with Tom Miller on the WJPF Radio Morning Newswatch.

“Today, I joined Tom Miller on the WJPF Radio Morning Newswatch for an interview on a variety of topics including the results from Tuesday's election, the status of the combined lawsuit effort against the SAFE-T Act, and what to expect during the first week of Veto Session that begins tomorrow. Click below to listen in!”

Windhorst suggested that Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Sterling) could be the next Republican leader of the House. "It looks like it's gonna be Rep. Tony McCombie from up in northwestern Illinois, from the rural part of the state near the Quad Cities. She has sent out a letter in the last couple days saying that she has the sufficient votes to be the elected leader. I believe that to be true and I think she will be a great leader."

Windhorst discussed the next minority leader's priorities.

"There were two priorities that I think our next leader has to have; I think she'll be able to meet both of them," Windhorst said. "One is we have to have a leader who unites our caucus ... and I think that Rep. McCombie will be able to do that. Then the other thing we have to do as a party ... is put forward a vision that can appeal to voters statewide."

 Windhorst saw some victories in the general election 

"As we saw with the results Tuesday, we're doing well in the rural parts of Illinois throughout southern Illinois and central Western Illinois. We're doing very well picking up a lot of local county offices, and even with that, we picked up a House seat in the metro east," Windhorst said. "But in suburban Chicago we have lost seats, in fact we'll have a negative - we lost at least four from the election Tuesday, so we have to make sure we're getting our message out in those areas."

Windhorst was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018. A Republican, his legislative experience includes serving on the Restorative Justice, and Judiciary - Criminal committees. He resides in Metropolis.

Windhorst ran uncontested for the 117th House District seat in the 2022 General Election.