Here is the second and final part of the Tribune’s endorsements for contested races throughout Illinois in the March 19 primary for U.S. Congress.
11th
Represented by Democrat Bill Foster, Illinois’ 11th Congressional District covers most of McHenry and Kane counties, along with parts of Boone, Lake, DeKalb, DuPage, Cook and Will. There are primary contests on both sides of the ticket.
Foster faces a challenger from the left in Qasim Rashid, a human rights lawyer who previously ran in another state. “I am the only Democrat,” Rashid told us, contrasting himself with Foster, “who is committed to international human rights law and calling for a complete and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and an end to the occupation and settlements to save both Israeli and Palestinian lives — contrary to my opponent who refuses to call for a cease-fire.”
Rashid is a serious, reasoned candidate, and many of his other positions will appeal to progressives. He told us he supports abolishing the Electoral College and, if elected, he says he would fight for “progressive tax reform to ensure that corporations and the wealthiest individuals pay their fair share.”
“I am the only Democrat who rejects all corporate PAC money, which is what more than 90% of Americans want — contrary to my opponent who has taken millions in corporate PAC money,” Rashid told us, implying Foster is in the thrall of big business.
Foster rejects that characterization.
“The most pressing issue facing people in my district is recovering from the inflation of the last few years.” Foster told us. “I believe the best way to address this is by raising workers’ wages and by helping low- and middle-income families afford life’s essentials.”
A moderate Democrat, Foster generally has middle-of-the-road Democratic positions: “To help families afford essential goods and services,” he told us, “I also support policies to restore the Child Tax Credit expansion; subsidize unaffordable child care costs; expand SNAP benefits and make them more flexible; build more affordable housing; bring down the cost of college and student loans; and strengthen the (Affordable Care Act) to make health care more affordable, especially prescription drugs; among other policies.”
He also has a common-sense approach to problems at the border: “I’ve signed on in support of additional funding for motion sensors, thermal cameras, cargo scanners and similar technology that would be much more effective and less expensive than building a physical wall,” he told us, adding that “we must invest more heavily in our immigration courts to allow asylum cases to be heard quickly.”
In this competitive district, Foster is endorsed in the Democratic primary.
On the Republican side of the ticket, the impressive physician-attorney O Kent Mercado competes against business owner Jerry Evans and business owner Susan Hathaway-Altman, who is billing herself as the anti-establishment candidate.
Mercado, who allows there was no evidence of fraud in Joe Biden’s election as president, says he hopes to “restore democratic values and norms: crucial to shoring up the American democratic system.”
“This could include promoting transparency in government, protecting the freedom of speech and the press, and ensuring that elections are free and fair,” he told us. He also said that he believed Donald Trump should stay on the ballot in Illinois, a position with which we agree. Indeed, we like a lot of what this candidate had to say.
As a physician, Mercado says he is focused on maintaining affordable, available health care, and he told us that “kitchen table issues” would be at the forefront of his tenure.
Evans described the two most pressing issues in his district as “inflation and the illegal immigrant crisis.”
“We need to stop wasteful spending and get inflation under control,” he told us. “Securing the southern border is a humanitarian, foreign policy and economic imperative.” Evans does not support aid to Ukraine being decoupled from border politics, nor does he support a ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles.
Although Evans is the better-funded candidate and comes with a strong appeal for faith-based Republicans, we think Mercado is the most likely to work across the aisle in Congress and get things done for the American people.
Mercado is endorsed.
12th
The safely Republican 12th District, which spans the Illinois-Missouri-Kentucky-Indiana border and covers the southern reaches of Illinois, has been represented by Mike Bost since 2015. But on the Republican side of the ticket, Bost is being challenged by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, who lost in the general election to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
We rejected Bailey, a successful farmer who variously called this city a “hellhole” and a “problem child” back then and his pitiful posing on X (formerly Twitter) with guns and ammunition last New Year’s Eve, and declaring like a tinpot dictator that he “will not comply” with sensible gun regulations in this state hardly made us inclined to change our minds. We have a lot of differences with Bost, who has the endorsement of Donald Trump and the backing of the National Rife Association, but he is a five-term congressman who long has served the people of this mostly rural district. It is certainly remarkable that this right-wing Republican would face a challenge from his yet-further right opponent, but, in any event, Bailey does not provide credible opposition.
Bost is endorsed.
On the Democratic side, the contest is between 33-year-old Preston Gabriel Nelson of Lebanon, who has little political experience and is opposed to aiding Ukraine, and Brian Roberts, an attorney specializing in criminal defense, who has not mounted much of a campaign.
Nelson ran for Congress in 2020 in the 8th District under the Libertarian Party banner. Roberts did not respond to our questions. The Tribune is not making an endorsement in this Democratic race.
13th
Illinois’ 13th District includes Champaign, Urbana, most of Decatur and Springfield, and the Illinois part of metro St. Louis. Incumbent Democrat Nikki Budzinski runs unopposed.
She has two Republicans vying to oppose her in the fall: Joshua Loyd and Thomas Clatterbuck.
Loyd told us he is “running on three pillars: teacher, preacher and service, which represent education, community involvement/beautification and first responders/military.” He’s a business owner who was educated at West Point.
We liked Loyd’s emphasis on bipartisanship as well as his support for Ukraine and his opposition to Hamas. And he acknowledges Joe Biden was legitimately elected. Thomas Clatterback is a 2016 graduate of the University of Illinois and lives in Champaign, where he tells us he is now a law student. He says his political experience is limited to that of precinct committeeman.
Clatterback has some interesting thoughts on the need to establish “a regulatory framework for emerging technologies like AI and self-driving vehicles,” which he considers a pressing issue in his district.
Clearly, though, Loyd has more political and relevant life experience, and he is well regarded in the Republican party.
Loyd is endorsed.
14th
The Democratic incumbent in the 14th District, which now includes Kendall County, the southern half of DeKalb County, northern LaSalle County, northeast Putnam County and parts of Will, Kane and Bureau counties, is Lauren Underwood. She runs unopposed in the primary.
Republican challengers are James T. “Jim” Marter and Charlie Kim.
Marter, a self-employed software consultant, is a former delegate for Donald Trump. He is an unapologetic hardliner who says he would “end sanctuary cities and states and enforce the law against elected officials and bodies who are in violation of federal law.” He includes Underwood on a list of “radical anti-Americans” in Congress. Marter opposes foreign aid and says he has “zero concern for bipartisanship,” which does not sit well with us, nor bode well for democracy. His belief that Joe Biden was not duly elected president of the United States is a disqualifier for us.
Immigrant business owner Charlie Kim shares that view. Try as we might, we found it difficult to understand his policy positions, and he’s not known in Republican circles in Illinois.
The Tribune is not endorsing in this race.
17th
Democrat Eric Sorensen is the incumbent in the geographically expansive 17th District, which covers most of northwestern Illinois, including the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, and parts of Peoria and Rockford. He runs unopposed.
On the Republican side of the ticket, Scott Alan Crowl of Milan, who describes himself as a lifelong farmer and is a former president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, faces off against retired Rockford judge and former prosecutor Joe McGraw.
Crowl says he is “an American first Republican” running as an outsider candidate because he is worried about the direction of the country, citing “high inflation, out-of-control debt, lawlessness at our southern border” among the nation’s problems, along with “coastal elites whose only concern is how to stay in power.” He calls the border “bedlam” and says he would “finish building the wall.”
McGraw says he is “ready to take on corruption in Washington and return our district to a safe, free and economically prosperous community.” He’s a lifelong Illinoisan and a former chair of the Illinois Conference of Chief Judges.
McGraw has been endorsed by most of the state’s leading Republicans (including House Minority Leader Tony McCombie), who clearly feel his extensive background in the judicial system (he was a judge for some 20 years) will allow him to speak authoritatively on issues of importance to most Republican voters.
The two conservatives promote mostly the same policies in terms of a law-and-order, pro-police, America-first focus, but McGraw has expressed more moderate views on immigration and, in an interview with The Pantagraph of Bloomington, he referenced wanting to appeal to Reagan Democrats and nonideological, blue-collar voters who are “thinking about how am I going to make ends meet.”
We view McGraw as having the most useful experience and the broader appeal of these two candidates and thus is the best choice for Republicans in what is likely to be a competitive district in the fall.
McGraw is endorsed.
