Dayton Loyd
Dayton Loyd (Republican Party) is running for election to the Illinois House of Representatives to represent District 118. He is on the ballot in the Republican primary on March 17, 2026.[source]
Loyd completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Dayton Loyd served in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 2023. He earned a bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and graduate degrees from National Intelligence University and National Defense University. His career experience includes working in the intelligence community, as well as serving as an assistant professor of military science, a correctional officer, and an engineer. Loyd has been affiliated with the Parents Television Council and the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 118
Homer Markel (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 118 on March 17, 2026.
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 | Homer Markel | |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary
Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 118
Scott Doody (R), Dayton Loyd (R), and Harold Visser (R) are running in the Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 118 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Scott Doody | ||
 | Dayton Loyd | |
 | Harold Visser | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joe DeBose (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dayton Loyd completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Loyd's responses.
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Dayton Loyd is a highly decorated combat veteran that served in uniform for 40 years; first in United States Army and then in the IL National Guard. He served around the world in many countries with distinguished combat tours in Afghanistan and Africa. Additionally, Dayton Loyd had a vastly successful career in the US Intelligence community, retiring in 2025. He served as a government expert in the fields of Intelligence, Terrorism, National Security, Artificial Intelligence, Foreign Threats and Cyber Warfare. Dayton is also well known in the non-profit sector serving as the Mid-West Regional Director for the Parents Television Council (PTC) and the Southeast Chairman for the Employer Support of Guard and Reserves (ESGR). Dayton is a former assistant professor of military science at SIUC, a former correctional officer for the IDOC, and a former engineer for the IDOT. Dayton holds undergraduate degrees from Southern IL University Carbondale and the Command and General Staff College. He earned a Master’s certificate in Cyber Security-CIO from the National Defense University and a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence (MSSI) from the National Intelligence University (NIU). NIU is a highly selective university that only offers admission to a small population, and it is distinct in that all course work is classified as Top Secret. Dayton is an avid outdoorsman, a private pilot, a certified master scuba/rescue diver, a and military trained skydiver.
- Government Waste and Mismanagement: Illinois suffers from wasteful government spending and mismanagement. While taxes keep rising, the state government continues to struggle with inefficient programs, bloated bureaucracy, and a lack of accountability. Public services like education, infrastructure, and healthcare are underfunded or mismanaged, and state agencies often fail to deliver on their promises. Instead of reforming the system or trimming fat, lawmakers continue to raise taxes while delivering minimal results, which only frustrates residents and businesses alike.
- Pension Crisis: Illinois’ pension system is massively underfunded, with a gap of over $140 billion. The state has promised generous pensions to public employees but has failed to set aside enough money to pay them. As a result, taxpayers are forced to pick up the bill. Instead of addressing the root issue by reforming pensions or implementing fiscal responsibility, lawmakers often look to raise taxes to cover these growing liabilities. This unsustainable system puts enormous pressure on the state’s finances and contributes to its long-term fiscal instability.
- High Taxes: Illinois has some of the highest property, income, and sales taxes in the country. This tax burden drives businesses and families out of the state. High property taxes, in particular, make it harder for middle-class families to own homes and have become a major factor in the state’s out-migration problem. Instead of cutting wasteful spending or finding new ways to stimulate economic growth, politicians keep raising taxes, which only worsens the economic situation and discourages investment. To complicated the situation Illinois’ is now a sanctuary state where policies increase public spending, strain local services, and shift tax dollars away from core responsibilities, leading to higher taxes for everyone.
This includes supporting law enforcement, opposing policies that weaken public safety (such as overly broad sanctuary laws or cashless bail), and making sure communities are secure and safe from crime.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 19, 2025
