This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Aurora area in the Nov. 5 election.
The election race to represent the 14th District in the U.S. House of Representatives is between incumbent Democrat Lauren Underwood and Republican James Marter.
The general election is set for Nov. 5.
Marter, 61, of Oswego, said that issues in the district include immigration, inflation and safety.
Regarding immigration, Marter said, “We need to stop the invasion and secure the border” adding that “it’s out of control. It’s a humanitarian crisis.”
“I can’t believe we have allowed things to get this bad,” he said.
Inflation worries include high prices for gasoline and groceries and more, Marter said.
“When I fill up my grocery cart with my wife, you get about get about one-third of what you got before,” he said. “People are hurting. They cannot afford what’s going on. The job market is tight because of the economy.”
Safety includes the “assault of people in Israel and the rise of antisemitism here in America, in Chicago and northern Illinois.”
If elected, Marter said his goals “would be to do exactly what people are telling me about stopping the invasion and secure the border, stop government’s out-of-control spending and ending inflationary practices in Washington and cut the size of the federal government.”
“We also need to secure the border which ties into national security,” Marter said. “We need to stop funding endless foreign wars as well, and stand with our allies.”
Marter said he also wants to work on health care “which is an issue for me as costs are out of control.”
“I want to put the free market back into health care and get the government bureaucrats out of Washington and send them home and put the free market back in while we protect existing conditions and shore up Social Security and Medicare,” he said.
Underwood, 38, of Naperville, is seeking her fourth term in Congress and sais people in the 14th District are concerned about lowering costs, reproductive freedom and the issue of democracy.
Lowering costs, Underwood said, includes “the general sense that people have that things are high” which leads to a discussion about the work that has been done to lower health care costs.
“People are concerned in general. If gas gets above $4, I hear about it immediately whether I’m in Washington or back home,” Underwood said. “People are mad and ask, ‘Does Congress work on lowering gas?’ and we say ‘No, that’s why we’ve been working so hard to take action like making sure people can get health care.’”
Reproductive freedom is about the states that border Illinois that “have enacted a total abortion ban, and voters take seriously the threat of enacting a nationwide abortion ban.”
“We have abortion clinics in our district and people are very upset and worried that Republicans could take away their reproductive freedoms. They take seriously the threats to ban contraception and fertility services like IVF,” Underwood said.
About the third issue, Underwood said that “I call it ‘democracy.’ Some people are very upset about the Supreme Court, voting rights and money in politics,” she said. “Categorically, to me, this is all one bucket – our democracy. People are very upset about what happened after the election and Jan. 6th and all that.”
If reelected, Underwood said goals would include making health tax credits permanent, working to pass legislation which deals with maternal mortality and taking action to lower costs.
The health tax credit is supposed to expire in 2025, Underwood said, and “so all the other plans expire and we need to change things after all the Trump tax plans end.”
Regarding maternal health care, Underwood said the “Momnibus” consists of “a collection of 13 bills to address our nation’s maternal health crisis and improve maternal health outcomes for all moms in our country” and that it is another goal she plans to focus on.
As far as the economy and the rise in what people are paying, “We’re hearing a lot about housing costs, particularly in our area where people want to buy homes and are having a hard time finding affordable rentals,” Underwood said. “It’s clear that this is an area that needs some real focus and attention.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
