State Rep. Dan Brady (no relation to Bill and Ed but a cousin or something of PAT Brady) has also been mentioned as considering it. He's a combiner, yes? It's hard to see him running against LaThug. Too many Bradys and Ryans in this state.
Politics1.com lists State Rep. Tom Demmer as a potential candidate but I don't know if he's actually expressed interest.
Bill Brady, Bobby Schilling, and Jil Tracy are the "big 3" choices.
Ping
There are also numerous pols named "Ryan" and "Murphy" in this state who are not related to each other. For example, there's a Matt Murphy in southwest Cook Co. who is the brother of Worth Twp. GOP committeeman Shaun Murphy. He ran as a Ron Paul delegate. He is not related to the Matt Murphy in northwest Cook Co. who currently serves as a State Senator and was elected as a non-combiner, anti-RINO candidate, but quickly sucked to the Republican establishment and became Andy McKenna's running mate.
When Patrick Hughes ran against Kirk for the US Senate, apparently it confused numerous people because there's some big liberal Democrat donor in this state also named Patrick Hughes. The two are not related.
Wish we could find an anti-combiner, anti-GOP establishment candidate named Kay LaHood or something, and slate her against the politician's son. That would be fun.
His decent voting record aside (LaThug Jr. has a "decent" voting as well), both LaThug Jr. and Pat Brady's cousin are hardcore combiners, and neither deserves conservatives support in a contested primary.
The most amusing thing is LaThug Jr. ran as a Gingrich delegate while his daddy was pimping 0bama's reelection. So LaThug Jr. wanted daddy to lose his cushy job, or there had been a backroom deal for LaThug Sr. to stay on in a Gingrich administration? These combiners literally have their hands in everyone's pocket.