On the record
An accountability investigation · Rep. Jeff Keicher (R‑Sycamore)
State Farm's man in Springfield
He sells insurance. He votes with the insurers. Their PACs keep funding his campaign.
An accountability investigation · Rep. Jeff Keicher (R‑Sycamore)
He sells insurance. He votes with the insurers. Their PACs keep funding his campaign.
Five facts from the public record — his votes, the contributions, and his own words on the House floor. Paid for by Citizens For Professional Behavior in Government. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Jeff Keicher has owned a State Farm insurance agency in Sycamore since 2006.
Four times he voted against letting the state rein in excessive insurance rates — twice on bills that are now law.
About $141,329 from insurers, agents, and their PACs since 2017 — including $5,500 nine days before the first rate-review vote.
After State Farm raised Illinois homeowners rates an average 27.2%, the House voted on giving the Department of Insurance authority to review and refund excessive premiums. Keicher, a State Farm agent, voted no. The motion failed 56-37-6, four short of passage.
ILGA House Roll Call, HB 3799 concurrence, Oct 30 2025 ↗The bill passed the House 66-40-2. Keicher voted no on the floor and, that morning, in the Executive Committee. On the floor he said he was voting no because, as a State Farm agent, he has a conflict of interest on insurance bills.
ILGA House Roll Call, SB 1486 3rd Reading, Mar 19 2026 ↗Passed the House 70-38-1. Keicher voted no.
ILGA House Roll Call, SB 714 3rd Reading, May 27 2026 ↗The final version of the homeowners bill — banning excessive rates, requiring 60 days' notice of increases over 10%, and barring insurers from shifting out-of-state losses onto Illinois homeowners — passed the House 72-38 on May 27, 2026. Keicher voted no. It became Public Act 104-0752.
ILGA House Roll Call, HB 4273 concurrence, May 27 2026 ↗The industry has given to Friends of Jeff Keicher in 95 installments since 2017 — before and after these votes. The dates above are the contributions closest to the rate-review votes. "Insurance industry" includes insurers, insurance-agent associations, and insurer-employee PACs.
“I feel I have a conflict of interest if I even consider voting ‘yes.’”
“We're taking a step today that … is going to take an anticonsumer tilt.”
"Every single one of your constituents who has a homeowner's policy will pay extra."
He calls himself NIU's "relentless advocate."
Then he voted no on 7 straight state budgets. The six with published figures (FY21–FY26) carried about $575 million in Northern Illinois University operating funds for his own district — and NIU's funding rose in most of them anyway. The budget table ↗