Politics

Durbin gets a Republican challenger in Doug Truax

Alexis Levinson Political Reporter
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Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin has a challenger for his 2014 re-election campaign.

Republican Doug Truax, a West Point graduate who now runs a strategic risk consulting firm, will officially announce his candidacy on Monday.

“At West Point, one of the first things they taught us is that you change battlefield strategies if they continually fail,” Truax said in a statement. “Business owners and families also know this but amazingly, in Illinois and Washington, career politicians like Dick Durbin continue to make the same tax-and-spend policy decisions without regard to results.”

Truax is a political neophyte. He is the co-owner and managing partner of Veritas Risk Services, LLC, a strategic risk consulting firm. Before that, he served as a Captain in the Army after graduating from West Point in 1992.

Durbin, the majority whip of the Senate, is well positioned for re-election, with $3.2 million in his campaign account, according to FEC filings in March. But the Truax campaign says it will try to woo a large coalition to help position him to win, focusing particularly on younger voters and not writing anyone off, no matter their party affiliation.

“I look forward to bringing a new energy and ultimately a new direction for the people of Illinois,” Truax said in a statement.

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Alexis Levinson