On April 30, Dr. David Gill, an emergency room physician, said he will be an independent candidate in 2016 for the U.S. House in the Illinois 13th district. He had been the Democratic nominee for U.S. House in the 15th district in 2004, 2006, and 2010, and he had been the Democratic nominee in 2012 in the new 13th district.
See this story, which explains why he has left the Democratic Party. When he was the Democratic nominee in 2012, the party leadership opposed him but he won the primary anyway. In the 2012 general election, he lost to Republican Rodney Davis by only 1,002 votes. The old 15th district in the 2000’s decade included Champaign, Bloomington, and much of east central Illinois. After the 2011 redistricting, the new 13th district still includes Gill’s home area of Bloomington, but otherwise it is a very different district, extending to the west, all the way to the Mississippi River, and including Springfield.
Gill considered running as an independent in 2014, when he would have needed 15,205 valid signatures. For 2016, he will need 10,514. The number is lower because turnout in 2014 was much lower than in 2012.
I had the pleasure of voting for Dr. Gill twice. He has always open minded to third parties and friendly to the local Greens. I wish he considered running as a Green.