(The Center Square) – As Democrats in the Illinois House of Representatives gained multiple seats in this week’s election, a third of the caucus is looking to oust their current leader in the next term.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, confirmed in a statement Thursday evening that he will not seek the speakership again when the legislative session starts in January.
“I am proud of this work, but I serve at the pleasure of the caucus, and I want our caucus to lead in unity and take on the mandate we received from voters this past election confidently. With that, I look forward to joining the caucus as we usher in our next leader and take our party further into the future,” Welch said.
Welch has been criticized from within and outside his caucus for his handling of multiple scandals in the past year, including not taking action on complaints of sexual harassment by one of his members for three months.
Following the Democrat Caucus’ pickup of four new seats – with three other uncalled races leaning in their favor Thursday – 24 members and two representative-elects signed a statement calling for another Democrat to lead.
“Over the course of the last few months, we have grown increasingly convinced that the House Democratic Caucus needs new leadership. We represent a broad spectrum of our caucus, and each have come to this decision for our own reasons. We look forward to a robust race for a new Speaker of the House,” read the statement.
Welch would have needed 60 votes to be elected speaker.
The 26 members were enough to put Welch’s role into jeopardy when combined with the House Republicans, who were likely to vote against any Democrat, Republicans have at least 32 remaining members after the midterm elections, with one uncalled race leaning in their favor.
If all Republicans would have voted against Welch alongside the coalition, one more ‘nay’ vote would have put Welch under the 60-vote threshold.
Fiscal moderate Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, was one of the members who indicated his opposition to Welch.
Crespo was stripped of his committee roles and removed from the caucus by Welch in 2025 after independently working on a state budget proposal draft.
Before Welch’s Thursday evening statement, Crespo told The Center Square he wanted new leadership after Welch’s handling of the sexual harassment case against former Rep. Harry Benton and the leader’s own behavior toward staff.
“I made it very clear then, that because of the way the speaker handled the Benton harassment case – and that, also coupled with things that we learned about his behavior, was very concerning,” Crespo said. “I asked back then for his resignation. I feel that the members that signed the documents are stating that they will not support Speaker Welch and are looking to support someone else, and I agree with that, but I still feel that he should resign.”
Crespo referred to reporting by the Chicago Tribune that found Welch had made a female staffer uncomfortable with his use of social media and online interactions she – and other staff – had with him.
Crespo said he thought Welch’s resignation and new leadership sooner could make the House work faster on some of the Democrats’ key priorities in the upcoming veto session, while also creating a better work environment for House staff.
A statement from House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, suggested the GOP would not support Welch in January.
“I continue to believe he is unfit to continue serving as Speaker,” McCombie said in a statement to The Center Square.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday was pressed by members of the media on his stance regarding Welch’s leadership, responding without taking sides.
“I know there’s stories with rumors involved but not a lot of fact yet that’s been reported. So all I can say is, again, the members of the House get to choose who they want as a leader and I look forward to working with whoever that may be,” Pritzker said.
Rep. Robyn Gabel, whose name has been floated as a potential successor to Welch, told The Center Square ahead of Welch’s announcement that she’s not sure yet if she’s interested in taking the role.
“We’ll see. Things are – we’ll see how things play out,” Gabel said.
The Center Square contacted all 26 people who signed the letter. Crespo was the only sitting lawmaker to respond. Representative-elect Paul Kendrick didn’t have any additional statement.
