As Midterms Approach, Illinois’s 17th Faced With Choices

With midterm elections taking place on November 6, the voting-eligible citizens of the 17th District of Illinois, which includes Rock Island County, will be faced with different choices for different elections. On the national level, Illinois’s Senators Democrats Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin will not be up for re-election. However, as the House of Representatives hold elections every two years, the 17th District’s Democrat Cheri Bustos is up for re-election, however her Republican challenger Mark Kleine had dropped out and conceded the race back in January. This leaves local and state elections to be the ones facing Illinois citizens with choices.

Firstly, gubernatorial elections are up in this year with Democrat and Chicago billionaire J.B. Pritzker challenging Republican and also Chicago billionaire incumbent Bruce Rauner. As of now, polls currently favor Pritzker, who leads by 16 points according to a poll done by NBC News and Maris with 46% of participants favoring Pritzker to Rauner’s 30. Pritzker’s campaign is driven on a platform of legalizing marijuana, investing in infrastructure, and having Illinois be the first state to offer a public option for healthcare with a new Medicare expansion dubbed “Illinois Care.” Rauner is campaigning on a platform of instituting reforms to cut down on government corruption, increasing higher-paying, middle class jobs in Illinois, and increasing standards and what Rauner calls “More effective funding” for education on his campaign website.

Also at the state level, Illinois’s 17th Congressional District features Moline firefighter and State Senate Republican Neil Anderson being faced with Labor activist and Democratic challenger Gregg Johnson. For the Illinois House of Representatives election, Republican Peter Lee will be facing off with Democrat Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz. As midterm elections come nearer and nearer, Illinois 17th Congressional District will face the decision of who to elect this round of elections.