Slusser calls decisive win in GOP primary for Madison County Board chairman ‘validating’

Challenger Chris Slusser defeated two-term incumbent Kurt Prenzler in the Republican primary for Madison County Board chairman on Tuesday after being endorsed by the Madison County Republicans and all six of the party’s other countywide elected officials.

The final unofficial vote was 11,704 (62%) to 7,156 (38%), according to the county clerk’s office. The race was decided by about 10.6% of the county’s 176,922 registered voters.

No Democrat has filed to run in the November general election, making it likely that Slusser, as the Republican nominee, will become chairman and vacate his current seat as county treasurer.

“It was a brutal campaign, but I give God the glory for helping me through the tough times. It was very validating to win by such a big margin, and I had a great team around me and great supporters,” he said.

“The voters were just looking for a change.”

Slusser, 46, of Wood River, was speaking from an election watch party on Tuesday night at Wood River Moose Lodge 1349 with members of the Madison County Republicans, including Patrick McRae, who won the primary for circuit clerk, a seat now held by his father, Thomas McRae.

Slusser has identified taxes and economic development as the two most important issues in Madison County.

“The legislators are going to be getting calls from me this week,” he said. “I want to start up my lobbying campaign again for property-tax reform. I’m going to be relentless on this.

“Property taxes are too high in this state. We have the second-highest property taxes in the country. And the only way to meaningfully reform is that we have to change the way we fund schools, end of story, period.”

Prenzler, 68, of Edwardsville, called Slusser about 9 p.m. Tuesday to concede the election and congratulate him on his victory, according to both men. Slusser described Prenzler as “very gracious.”

“We agree on 99% of the issues,” Slusser said. “It’s just execution and delivery where we differ. He’s done a lot of good things for the taxpayers of our county and a lot of good things for the Republican Party.

“I never take these things personally, and as ugly as campaigns can get, I’m able to put it behind us because ultimately we need to be unified as a Republican Party and focus on November and defeating Democrats and ensuring good conservative limited government for the people of Madison County.”

Prenzler attended a different election watch party at Friday’s South Bar & Grill in Collinsville with members of the Madison County Conservative Caucus, a group with which he’s aligned.

In an interview, Prenzler expressed appreciation for the supporters who “worked very hard” on his campaign.

“I knew it was a difficult race, so I would not say I’m surprised,” he said. “I was optimistic, but I think the results are clear.”

Prenzler said the biggest focus of his two terms as County Board chairman was reducing the county property-tax levy in the first year and keeping it at the same level for the next seven years.

“That’s an accomplishment, I think,” he said.

Prenzler and Slusser were once allies. As a Madison County Republicans leader, Slusser supported Prenzler in his successful bids to become treasurer in 2010 and 2014, and Prenzler appointed Slusser to replace him in 2016, when Prenzler was elected County Board chairman.

But in recent months, both campaigns leveled sharp criticism at the other, including claims of incompetence, corruption, dishonesty and political “dirty tricks.”

“Kurt has lost his way, especially in the last four or five years,” Slusser said earlier this month. “He hired some really bad people for key positions in his administration. They were engaged in wrongdoing and not showing up for work or doing their jobs, and he wasn’t holding them accountable.”

Slusser also accused Prenzler of failing to keep board members informed, encouraging people to harass them, creating chaos and controversy at meetings, causing turnover among employees and focusing more on activist issues than the administrative job taxpayers were paying him to do.

Prenzler said he made no apologies for being a conservative activist and not being a “RINO” (Republican in name only), and he was proud of fighting against COVID-19 mandates and drag-queen story hours at libraries and speaking out on other issues in local communities.

Prenzler said some Republicans opposed him because he had fought for property-tax caps, and they wanted everyone on the same page.

“They’re trying to put together the old Madison County political machine,” he said earlier this month, referring to Democrats in charge for decades. “Except that they’re going to put Rs behind the names.”

In some cases, rhetoric in the local campaign resembled that of other Republican primaries across the county, reflecting divisions between right and far-right conservatives.

Slusser lives in Wood River with his wife and two daughters. He holds degrees in criminal justice, speech and business. He formerly worked as a Southern Illinois University Edwardsville police officer, an investment adviser, finance officer for a real-estate company and vice president of a development company.

Slusser was elected to the Madison County Board in 2008 and again in 2016 after losing a 2012 bid to become chairman. After Prenzler appointed him treasurer in 2016, he won election in 2018 and reelection in 2022.

Prenzler is a certified public accountant with a law degree, a husband and father of three college-age children. He ran for county treasurer in 2006 and lost before winning in 2010 and 2014. He was elected board chairman in 2016 and reelected in 2020.

In this year’s primary campaign, Prenzler was endorsed by U.S. Representative Mary Miller, a Republican in Illinois’ 15th District, as well as the Madison County Conservative Caucus.

Both Prenzler and Slusser argued that they had been more successful at protecting county funds, and both alleged ethical lapses by the other.

Slusser pointed to County Board votes to strip Prenzler of some powers two years ago for what an ordinance called “chronically inept” management and to censure him last month for giving a campaign business card to a county vendor instead of an official business card.

Prenzler accused Slusser of falsely denying that he was fired as an SIUE police officer in 2002 and criticized him for wearing a hidden device to record conversations with county employees in 2018 as part of what Prenzler called a “politically motivated” investigation.