David R. Leitch (born August 22, 1948) was an American politician who served as a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

for the 73rd district from 1989 to 2017. He was also a member of the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

in 1986 and 1987.

Early life and education

Leitch was born in

Three Rivers, Michigan Three Rivers is a city in St. Joseph County, Michigan. The population was 7,973 at the time of the 2020 census. Three Rivers derives its name from its location at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and two tributaries, the Rocky and Porta ...

. He graduated from

Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo College is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1833 by American Baptist Churches USA, Baptist ministers as the Michigan and Huron Institute, K ...

Career

Prior to entering politics, Leitch worked in the baking industry. On January 31, 1986, Leitch was appointed to the

to succeed the late Prescott E. Bloom. As Bloom was the only candidate to file for the 1986 Republican primary, Leitch and

Carl Hawkinson Carl E. Hawkinson (born October 7, 1947) is an American attorney and former Republican member of the Illinois General Assembly, serving in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1983 to 1987 and the Illinois Senate from 1987 to 2003. Early ...

both ran in the primary as write-in candidates. Hawkinson, a member of the

, defeated Leitch by a large margin. In 1988, Fred J. Tuerk chose to retire from the

. Leitch won the 1988 general election for the open seat. On October 8, 2015, he announced that he would not be seeking re-election. At the time of his announcement, Representative Leitch was the most senior Republican in the

. Ryan Spain was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in the 2016 general election to succeed Leitch.

References

External links

Representative David R. Leitch (R) 73rd District
at the Illinois General Assembly **By session
98th97th96th95th94th93rdState Representative David R. Leitch
constituency site *
David Leitch
at Illinois House Republican Caucus Republican Party Illinois state senators Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1948 births Living people People from Three Rivers, Michigan Kalamazoo College alumni 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-Republican-stub