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Peter Breen, Senior Counsel and Vice President of the Chicago-based Thomas More SocietyThomas More Society

A prominent pro-life, pro-family activist is running unopposed for the Illinois State House after the state's Speaker of the House dropped a lawsuit that would have illegally placed a candidate against him.

Peter Breen, Senior Counsel and Vice President of the Chicago-based pro-life, pro-family Thomas More Society, announced in an e-mail to supporters that Speaker Mike Madigan “voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit” to place a candidate on the general election ballot against him. Madigan had, according to Breen, “asked a judge to ignore [state] law and give a pass” to a candidate of Madigan's liking. Breen is running to represent the 48th District of Illinois in Springfield.

Madigan is a leading Democrat in the state, while Breen is a first-time Republican candidate for office. Madigan's lawsuit came earlier this month, after the DuPage County Election Board took Breen's opponent off the ballot.

Breen has long been known for his strong stand in favour of marriage and life. Last year, he accused the IRS of targeting a client of the Thomas More Society, the Coalition of Life for Iowa after the federal agency questioned them about the content of their prayers and what words were on pro-life signs held outside of Planned Parenthood clinics.

Two congressional committees are investigating the IRS for illegally targeting pro-life, pro-family, and Tea Party non-profits for years. The Coalition is one of the organizations that says it was targeted.

Madigan is a senior Democrat in a state that has a Democratic governor and a supermajority of Democrats in the state legislature. His daughter, Lisa, is the state's Attorney General, and was until recently considered a top candidate to run against Gov. Pat Quinn. Madigan’s influence is enormous across the state's political structure, and just last week Breen said about the lawsuit that Madigan “never goes down without a fight.”

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Breen told LifeSiteNews his campaign has “been able to talk about” the issue of life because he is running in a pro-life district. He said that while he will represent the interests of his constituents, “you've got legislators in assemblies, and Senates, and the Congress, who are very much to the left of their constituencies on the life issue.” He said this puts many politicians “out of step with their constituencies.”

Breen also discussed the candidate controversy that ended last week. He said that DuPage County Democrats failed to “follow….these simple rules that are laid down by the state of Illinois.” Those rules, as Breen explained, allowed Democrats to “slate a candidate,” but “for whatever reason, they didn't follow the rules.”

After the Election Board unanimously stood with Breen, Democrats appealed. However, the appeal to the Circuit Court “has been dismissed,” something Breen called “great news.”