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Realtor, Air Force veteran compete for GOP nod in 40th Senate race

The SouthtownStar - 6/11/2022

Jun. 11—A real estate broker from Frankfort and an Air Force veteran from Braidwood will face off in the June 28 primary to earn the Republican nomination in the 40th Senate District.

The district takes in portions of the south suburbs in Cook and Will counties, but the bulk of the 40th is in Grundy and Kankakee counties.

The district includes all or portions of south suburbs such as Chicago Heights, Crete, Monee, Park Forest, South Chicago Heights and University Park.

The winner of the primary will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Patrick Joyce, of Essex, in November.

Joyce was appointed to represent the district in November 2019 to replace Toi Hutchinson, of Olympia Fields, who was tabbed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to oversee the rollout of Illinois' foray into legalized production and sales of recreational marijuana.

In the 2020 election, where he was elected to a full term, Joyce garnered 58.5% of the vote compared with 41.5% for Republican challenger Eric Wallace, an ordained minister from Flossmoor.

With a background in real estate sales and property management, Krystyna Vela is vying for the Republican nomination against Philip Nagel, who works as a mitigation specialist, according to his campaign website.

He served in the Air Force after high school and lists improving the state's infrastructure as among his priorities if elected.

Nagel did not respond to requests from the Daily Southtown to discuss his campaign.

Vela said she has worked in real estate for 14 years and has been a licensed Realtor for seven years, working for Village Realty in Frankfort. She is a single mother with a daughter in college and son in high school.

She said a major concern she is hearing from voters, particularly in the south suburbs, is about high property taxes, which are making it difficult for people to remain in their homes and are a major obstacle for owners of small businesses.

"When the property is only valued at $200,000 or $260,000 and your taxes are $85,000 a year, how to expect someone starting out (a business) to be able to afford that?" Vela said.

If elected, Vela said she would look at what influence the General Assembly might be able to place on the budgets of taxing bodies that contribute to homeowners' tax bills, such as municipalities and school districts.

"We need police officers, we need firefighters, we all want our roads plowed in a timely manner, but need to do it in a way to make it affordable in order for people to stay in the area," she said.

Although they typically comprise a smaller portion of a property owner's tax bill compared with local school districts, Vela said that cities and villages "need to be more budget conscious" and more closely examine what they are spending on services and personnel.

"They need to look and say, 'Are all these positions necessary,'" she said.

Acknowledging that local taxing bodies will undoubtedly resist efforts by state legislators to have more of a say in their budget process, Vela said "it's not going to make everyone happy, let's be honest."

"There has to be change in order to make it affordable for people to live here," she said. "How many people do we have to lose (moving out of Illinois) before making changes?"

Vela insists that, while running as a Republican and having "a core base of Republican values," she "can work with everyone, regardless of their party status."

"At the end of the day I don't just represent one group of people, I represent the entire district," she said. "My obligation is to serve the public."

mnolan@tribpub.com

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