Robert W. Pritchard was sworn into office as the State Representative for the 70th District to fill the vacancy created by David Wirsing’s death.

He will leave in one week to travel to Springfield and begin where Rep. Wirsing (R-Sycamore) left off.

‘While this is a time of mixed emotions, I think that Dave would have wished for us to move on,” Pritchard said at the inauguration. “Everything that he believed, I believe. I plan to address the issues of education, higher education, as well as farming issues.”

He also addressed the current state of the budget.

“We have some tough choices coming up,” he said. “I plan to look at balancing the budget, and I am going to look at the some of the issues at hand.”

Pritchard is a DeKalb County Board member and chairman but plans to step down sometime in the future, he said.

Pritchard was chosen to fill the office by the Representative Committee of the Republican Party, based on how well he can represent the area.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert said finding someone to follow in Wirsing’s footsteps also was a search for “someone that we can work with.”

Pritchard said he plans to run for the office of representative when the current term ends.

Wirsing’s position has been vacant since his death on Nov. 16.

“It has been a challenging time over the past few weeks,” said Tom Cross, Illinois House Republican Leader.

As Pritchard simply put it, “The work begins.”

Pritchard received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University. He also was a Republican Precinct Committeeman as well as a member of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau and executive committee.

Pritchard’s wife Mary is the associate dean of NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.