Jim Oberweis

In 2002, Oberweis sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator, but lost in the primary, finishing second of three with 31%.[11]

Oberweis ran for Senator again in 2004, but again lost in the primary, finishing second of seven with 24%.[11]

Soon after the primary, the winner, Jack Ryan withdrew due to personal scandal. Some Republicans felt that as the second-place finisher, Oberweis should replace Ryan, but the state central committee chose Alan Keyes instead. Keyes lost to Barack Obama by the largest margin for the Illinois U.S. Senate race in history.[12]

Oberweis's 2004 campaign was notable for a television commercial in which he flew in a helicopter over Chicago's Soldier Field and claimed enough illegal immigrants came into America in a week (10,000 a day) to fill the stadium's 61,500 seats.[13]

During his 2004 Senate campaign, Oberweis appeared in television commercials for Oberweis Dairies. The Federal Election Commission ruled that this was an improper corporate contribution to the campaign, and fined Oberweis $21,000 for violation of campaign finance law.[14]

In 2006, Oberweis sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Illinois. He started his campaign in April 2005. He lost in the primary, finishing second of five with 32%.[11] As part of his campaign, he supported amending the Illinois Constitution to define marriage as opposite-sex only.[15] The winner of the primary was Judy Baar Topinka, who was defeated by Democrat Rod Blagojevich in the general election 49.8%–39.3%, with Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate, receiving a little over 10.3%.[11]

When U.S. Representative Dennis Hastert resigned his seat (Illinois's 14th congressional district) on November 26, 2007, Oberweis ran to replace him. Oberweis was endorsed by Hastert.[16] He won the primary for the special election for the remainder of Hastert's unfinished term with 56%. He also won the primary for the general election for the next term, with 58%.[11]

However, Oberweis lost the March special election to Democrat Bill Foster, getting 47% of the vote to Foster's 53%. He lost to Foster again in November, 58% to 42%.[11]

During the elections for the State Central Committee in March 2010, Jim Oberweis ran and won a seat on the Illinois Republican Party's State Central Committee representing the 14th Congressional District.[4][17] In 2013, as State Central Committeeman, Oberweis led the effort to oust former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady after his controversial public support of same-sex marriage.[18][19] While Oberweis's efforts were unsuccessful, Brady eventually resigned because of the controversy.[20]

Oberweis did not run again for the State Central Committee for the election in April 2014.[21]

In the 2012 general election, Oberweis won the 25th State Senate seat previously held by Chris Lauzen, his former GOP primary rival in the 2008 congressional race. He had announced his bid in September 2011.[22] He defeated his Democratic opponent, Corinne Pierog, 57.5%–42.5%.[23][24] In the 2016 general election, Oberweis again defeated Pierog, this time 54.7%–45.3%.[25]

In October 2018, Oberweis was appointed as the Senate Republican Whip.[26][27] He did not run for re-election in 2020.

• Commerce and Economic Development
• Environment and Conservation (Minority Spokesperson)
• Executive
  • Subcommittee on Election Law
• Labor (Minority Spokesperson)
• Revenue
• Transportation; Subcommittee on Election Law
  • Subcommittee on Capital

Oberweis was the Republican nominee for the 2014 Senate election, for the seat held by Democrat Dick Durbin.[28] He defeated Doug Truax in the Republican primary with 56% of the vote. He was defeated by Durbin in the November election.[29]

Oberweis announced he would run again for Illinois's 14th congressional district, challenging Democratic incumbent Lauren Underwood.[30] On March 17, 2020, he won the Republican nomination, narrowly defeating six other candidates including fellow state Senator Sue Rezin, and businesswoman Catalina Lauf.[31][32]

On November 4, Oberweis, leading by less than 900 votes in the incomplete vote count, declared himself the victor. This came despite the fact that the race had not been called by media outlets and there were still thousands of uncounted mail-in ballots.[33][34][35] That same day, Oberweis began sending out fundraising appeals to fund fees associated with a potential recount.[35]

On November 12, the race was called by the Associated Press for Underwood.[36][37] Oberweis did not concede, and stated that he was considering all legal options, including a possible recount.[38]

Jim Oberweis attended the congressional new member orientation on November 13.[39] He began calling for a "discovery recount" on November 18.[40]

According to the official canvass by the Illinois State Board of Elections, Lauren Underwood received 203,209 votes (50.67 percent) and Jim Oberweis received 197,835 votes (49.33 percent).[41]

In January 2021, Oberweis filed a notice of contest with the U.S. House of Representatives, alleging that irregularities in the vote recount would make him the winner of the election.[42] On May 12, 2021, the House rejected Oberweis' challenge.[43]