Heenan still interested in being congressman

by Carol Henrichs

On the night of Feb. 5 — election night — when the results of the congressional primary trickled in, Terry Heenan was exhilarated.

And, he recently learned that Tim Baldermann, the primary winner, has decided to drop out of the race. Heenan, the second highest vote-getter three weeks ago, is definitely interested in having his name on the ballot.

Republican party leaders will choose a new candidate to replace Baldermann. Whoever runs for the seat, will try to maintain the GOP seat long held by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, who decided last September not to run for re-election. Once chosen, the candidate will face the well-funded Democratic contender, State Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, as well as Green Party candidate Jason Wallace, in November.

Heenan, a commercial airline pilot from New Lenox, came in second in the three-man Republican primary race for U.S. Congress, in the 11th district.

Unlike most who aren’t first in an election, Heenan was happy on the morning after.

“It would have been great to win but I knew it was a long shot,” he admitted.

“It feels pretty good to come in second place,” Heenan said. He added, “The third place guy, (Jimmy Lee) started much sooner and was very well financed, had 600 volunteers, a full-time staff of three, including a campaign manager, and regularly consulted with his former boss, Karl Rove.”

Heenan categorized Baldermann as “hand-picked by the party.”

He added, “Baldermann obtained the party’s backing, had a full-time campaign manager, and was well-financed and well-connected.” In addition to having excellent name recognition, Heenan said Baldermann spent $53,246 on his campaign and received more than 32,000 votes.

In comparison, Heenan didn’t even get started on his campaign until the second week in January. His website wasn’t up and running until 2 a.m. on Jan. 27. He had no staff, no experience, and very little money. But, he felt he was rich in other ways – help and encouragement of family, friends, and neighbors.

Heenan went into the race with no false pretenses. He knew he was a total underdog. But, he had hope. He made light of the fact that he was totally unaware of how to run a campaign. He was thrilled with meeting the voters and was glad to see so many people that like him, are enthused about making a change in Washington.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve learned from the experience,” he said. “Although I’ve long held core conservative principles and values, I never before had to articulate them well enough to satisfactorily answer reporters’ questions or debate issues in public,” he said.

And when it came down to it, he said, “Even though I came in second in this election, I can’t help but feel like a winner.”