A lifelong Illinoisan, farmer, mother, and community leader, Julie Bickelhaupt is running for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District on the Republican ticket in 2026, which is currently held by Democrat Eric Sorensen. Bickelhaupt shares her top three priorities for running:
“The cost of living, clearly the cost of living is an issue for a lot of people in the area; mainly some being energy costs, healthcare, putting food on the table, food costs, and a big one for me that I have really noticed, especially through the county board and locking in rates and hearing what experts have to say is that those rates are going up and those needs are going up. With that, we need to figure out how to use all sources of energy within our country and our state and unleash that energy opportunities in order to lower some of those bills for constituents for the district.”
Bickelhaupt is from Mount Carroll, Illinois and currently serves as Chairperson of the Carroll County Board.











