U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert officially retired Monday, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich will schedule a special election within five days.

One of eight candidates vying for the 14th Congressional seat will fill in for the Plano Republican until his term expires in January 2009. They are Republicans Kevin Burns, Michael Dilger, Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis and Democrats Bill Foster, John Laesch, Joe Serra and Jotham Stein.

Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House speaker ever, submitted his resignation letters to Gov. Blagojevich and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, effective at 10:59 p.m. Monday.

“Serving for almost 21 years as a Representative of the people of the 14th District of Illinois has been a high honor for me,” Hastert said in a statement. “I am grateful to them and proud of all that we have been able to accomplish together. But the time has now come to spend more time with my family which sacrificed for so long to enable me to serve.”

The letters indicated Hastert chose to retire Monday, because it would allow the governor to schedule a special primary Feb. 5, the same day as the regular primary election.

The candidates in the race for Hastert’s seat agree that scheduling the special primary the same day would ease confusion at the polls and save taxpayer money.

“I urge the governor to take advantage of this opportunity to save taxpayer funds by doing so immediately,” Oberweis said in a statement.

Foster echoed Oberweis.

“We knew there would be another election, but we hope it will be the same day as the primary — it will save money and make it less confusing,” said Tom Bowen, Foster’s campaign manager.

Under Illinois law, the special election must be held within 115 days.