BENTON – Franklin County Treasurer Steve Vercellino will seek election for the 117th House District seat held by incumbent Republican State Rep. Patrick Windhorst of Metropolis in the March 2026 Illinois Primary.
Vercellino, of West Frankfort, became the first Republican elected as County Treasurer since the 1950s and beat a sitting Democrat for the office in 2018. Since then, Vercellino has worked with Democrat and Republican boards alike to get county finances back on track to better position Franklin County for decades to come. Vercellino says he’s a proven leader who’s ready to bring his leadership abilities to a bigger stage.
Vercellino says since 2017 he has seen an exponentially growing grassroots base of people willing to step up to help make Illinois a better place to live, work, and grow.
“People have been urging for leadership to lead them, engage them, and to provide a vision and a plan to strive towards. Those calls have been largely left unanswered, leaving people discouraged and unclear on whether there is hope for a better Illinois for future generations. I’m running because future generations need us to act now in order to have a better Illinois waiting for them. We have to be better together,” Vercellino said.
