A Braidwood police sergeant is taking aim at a 17-year incumbent in the Illinois House, setting up a contest that pits Republican Adam Beaty, who ran against DeLuca in 2024, against a Democrat who has held the 80th District seat since 2009. Adam Beaty, who is running as a Republican, is challenging Democratic Rep. Anthony DeLuca for the south suburban seat.
DeLuca, who was appointed to represent District 80 in 2009 and previously served six years as mayor of Chicago Heights, according to the Chicago Tribune. Beaty, meanwhile, is a Braidwood police sergeant who has said he ran partly because the seat has sometimes gone unopposed. Both men ran unopposed in their own party's March 2026 primary, as the Tribune reported in its earlier coverage of that contest, which also confirmed that neither candidate faced a primary opponent.
Who Is Running in the 80th District
Beaty is a Braidwood police sergeant. He has also held local political roles, previously serving as a Reed Township trustee, precinct committeeman and Braidwood city clerk, per his candidate questionnaire with the Chicago Sun-Times.
In that questionnaire, Beaty said the seat had been occupied for 15 years and that it was time for a change.
Local Government Funding
DeLuca has named property tax relief his top priority heading into the next legislative session, saying he is frustrated by a lack of legislative progress on the issue after serving on a property tax working group for two years.
DeLuca has also pushed to increase payments from the Local Government Distributive Fund, which sends a portion of state income-tax revenue to municipal governments. He has said the fund's share should be restored to 10%, up from its current 6.47%. The fund was reduced from that 10% share in 2011, and according to the Illinois Municipal League, local governments have since received $13 billion less than they would have under the old rate. Gov. JB Pritzker's own proposed budget would push the share even lower, from 6.47% to 6.23%, according to the Illinois Public Media Newsroom.
DeLuca has also filed legislation aimed at preventing the state legislature from imposing unfunded mandates on local governments, though that measure did not advance.
Cost of Living and Tax Fights
Beaty has prioritized the rising cost of living in Illinois and emphasized budgeting and cutting wasteful spending.
Beaty has also said he supports improving healthcare access if it can be done without raising taxes, and he plans to work toward attracting development that would improve the local tax base. DeLuca, meanwhile, supports a long-discussed proposal to bring a Level One trauma center to the south suburbs, though he has cautioned that such a facility would be expensive and difficult to establish. The Tribune's earlier reporting on the race noted DeLuca's estimate that adding a trauma center at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields Hospital would cost roughly $15 million.
Solar Project Proposed Near Manhattan
The Will County Board has voted 12-8 to approve a special-use permit for a proposed Earthrise Energy solar project near Manhattan, Illinois. NBC Chicago reported the development would put a 600-megawatt solar farm across 6,100 acres of farmland in Green Garden, Wilton and Manhattan townships, citing the project's Virginia-based developer.
On data centers, Beaty supports siting new facilities farther from densely populated municipalities and says concerns about noise and water use need to be addressed. DeLuca has said labor and environmental concerns must be resolved before data center development proceeds further, arguing that such facilities should recycle water, avoid stressing local water systems and generate their own energy.
The stakes extend beyond the district. A Chicago Tribune analysis published earlier this month found that data centers planned across Illinois over the next decade could generate $57 billion in investment and create 120,000 jobs, while boosting property tax revenue by roughly $300 million a year, mostly for schools. A separate report from Capitol News Illinois put the jobs figure at 121,000 through 2035, including 2,800 direct permanent positions, and noted the state already has more than 240 planned or active data centers. That same Tribune analysis found data centers currently consume about 7% of Illinois' electricity, and that planned facilities could raise average residential electricity bills by roughly $12 a month, or about 10%, under current regulations.
Beaty's 2024 Election Result
In the 2024 election cycle, Beaty received 40.8% of the vote.
