DeKALB – DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes announced his candidacy for Illinois State Representative of the 76th District, which includes parts of Bureau, Lasalle, Livingston, Putnam and DeKalb counties.

If elected to the General Assembly in Springfield, Barnes plans to continue in both roles until his term as mayor ends in 2025. The incumbent, Rep. Lance Yednock, is not seeking reelection.

Barnes believes economic development is key to the city’s growth – an ideal he cites from serving as President of the Board of Directors for the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. (DCEDC). The DCEDC works to create economic opportunities such as bringing jobs to DeKalb and recruiting target industries like Kraft Heinz and improving living standards for DeKalb County.

Since becoming mayor, Barnes has been involved in the opening of the Ferrara Candy Company distribution complex and the Meta data center. DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas expects the Kraft Heinz distribution plant will bring over 150 more jobs when it opens in 2025.

From a tax perspective, all this development means an increase in DeKalb’s Equalized Assessed Value. The EAV is the collective value of residential homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Barnes estimates DeKalb’s EAV to increase $170 million compared to last year.

“There’s a good chance the entire value of the city could double since I started two years ago,” Barnes said. “We haven’t seen economic development like this since the invention of barbed wire.” 

Barnes started his career of service in the Army after which he attended NIU, graduating with a bachelor’s in literature. After working for a year in technical support, Barnes opened his own technology firm, SundogIT, Inc. 

“I believe we all want things, and we all want a lot of services, but also there has to be balance,” Barnes said. “We can only provide the services we have the revenue for, which circles back to why economic development is so important.”