In the upcoming March 15 primary elections, State Representative John Countryman, R-Dekalb, will run again unopposed on the Republican ballot.

His opponent, Scott Erwin, also will be unopposed on the Democratic ballot for state representative.

Erwin will attend a meeting of the Young Democrats Wednesday at 9 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center to discuss issues of his campaign.

Erwin, a DeKalb attorney, said he submitted his nomination petitions with the understanding that Countryman was considering resignation from his office.

“I don’t know for sure whether or not I will run against Countryman if he stays in the race, but if Countryman does resign, then I will absolutely be running in the November elections on the Democratic ballot,” Erwin said.

“I will have to do a lot of decision-making if Countryman doesn’t resign. I’m not making any definite decisions (about running) yet,” Erwin said.

Countryman said, “I have no idea where he (Erwin) heard the rumor that I was thinking about resigning. I am definitely in the race. I filed my nominating petition 10 days before Erwin, and I have been making various public announcements.”

Education is a subject which is very important to this community and has not been of enough concern to our present representative, Erwin said.

Countryman said, “Education has always been a major concern of mine. I have always been very supportive of the development of the School of Engineering at NIU. I have also continued to work supportively with the university and its administrators.”

John Morreale, NIU Young Democrats chairman and Erwin supporter, said, “Education not being of enough concern to our present representative is the understatement of the year. I am begging Scott Erwin to run in the election.

“John Countryman has voted against education every time and you can see the results. The ‘yes’ referendum in Sycamore, the strike at DeKalb High School last year, the NIU tuition hike of $150 are just three local examples of Countryman’s representation,” Morreale said.

“All Scott Erwin needs is his education platform. Education is this district and education is the problem in DeKalb,” he said.

Gary Yambor, a Countryman supporter and NIU College Republicans president, said, “He’s (Countryman) working hard to improve departments such as mental health, balancing the state budget, holding down taxes and bringing industry to the state to create more jobs.”