Republican Senator Darby Hills and Democrat Rep. Nabeela | Photos by Jerry Nowicki
By Steve Zalusky | Daily Herald
The race for the Illinois Senate’s 26th District seat matches incumbent Republican Sen. Darby Hills against Democratic challenger Nabeela Syed, the representative for the state House’s 51st District.
The candidates have different approaches on two hot-button issues: immigration enforcement and data centers.
Immigration enforcement
Hills, a former Barrington Hills village trustee who was appointed to the state Senate in February 2025, says local police should not be turned into immigration agents.
But she said she also believes Illinois’ TRUST Act goes too far in preventing local authorities from honoring federal immigration detainers, even for someone charged with or convicted of a violent felony.
Under the TRUST Act, local police can only hold someone on an immigration detainer if there is a federal criminal warrant signed by a judge.
Data centers
In June, Gov. JB Pritzker announced a pause on processing new data center tax incentives and proposed a seven-point framework that included a call for centers to pay their fair share of electrical grid and water costs.
Hills called the governor’s pause a reasonable timeout but said it is not a policy.
“The state handed out hundreds of millions in tax breaks without asking what data centers would cost ratepayers,” she wrote in her response to a Daily Herald questionnaire.
Hills has called for a moratorium of at least one year on new data centers and supports legislation that would put limitations on such projects. She has sponsored or co-sponsored a number of related bills, including Senate Bill 1050.
Full article appears here.
Leave a Reply