•January 13, 20201•
By Capitol News Illinois

House Speaker Michael Madigan announced he would suspend his campaign for House Speaker of the 102nd General Assembly on Monday, Jan. 11, but his statement made clear he was not withdrawing from the race.
“This is not a withdrawal. I have suspended my campaign for speaker,” Madigan said in a statement released by his office Monday morning. “As I have said many times in the past, I have always put the best interest of the House Democratic Caucus and our members first. The House Democratic Caucus can work to find someone, other than me, to get 60 votes for Speaker.”
The last sentence of the brief statement is indicative of the uphill battle Madigan’s challengers will have to climb – they will need 60 votes, or 42 more than any challenger appeared to have Sunday night.
The House speaker is chosen by House members, and can receive both Republican and Democratic votes. There are 73 Democrats and 45 Republicans who will be seated in the 102nd General Assembly.
Traditionally, however, a majority party speaker receives votes from members of their own party.
In the first closed-door unofficial ballot conducted between Democrats in a private room at the Bank of Springfield Center on Sunday night, Madigan received 51 votes, according to several reports confirmed by Capitol News Illinois.
The speaker also has the endorsement of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus – two key voting blocs that make up the majority of his support, although some individual members of those caucuses have said they would not vote for Madigan.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.