Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch faces mutiny of 26 Democrats calling for new leader after Benton scandal

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s tenure as leader of his chamber’s supermajority caucus is in jeopardy after 26 Democratic state representatives issued a statement calling for new leadership.The mutiny comes in the wake of revelations over the summer that Welch was aware of sexual harassment allegations against disgraced ex-state Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, almost three years before additional complaints prompted Benton’s resignation.The letter was distributed late Wednesday by North Side state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the most vocal public critic of Welch’s handling of the case and his formation of a working group that she dismissed as “lip service” to addressing Springfield’s entrenched culture of harassment.But the letter drew signatures from nearly a third of the caucus that’ll be sworn in with a new General Assembly in January, including Cicero state Rep. Lisa Hernandez, chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.Their brief statement doesn’t name Welch or identify sp