Three Democratic candidates running for the Senate seat being vacated by Dick Durbin are touting their records for working to strengthen the economy, while bashing President Donald Trump and his tactics as threatening the American Dream.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton participated in candidate forum broadcast Thursday night on WTVP and presented by the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria and the League of Women Voters of Illinois.
All are from Chicagoland, though Kelly and Krishnamoorthi have Peoria ties.
Kelly
Kelly, who has served 13 years in Congress, called her platform “people over profit,” advocating a tax hike for the rich and closing loopholes for corporations.
"And with that money we can build affordable housing, we can have health care for everyone we can cap child care costs so people aren’t paying more for childcare than they are for rent and mortgage,” she said.
She promised to aggressively challenge the administration, noting that she’d filed impeachment papers against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “She has led this reign of terror under Donald Trump," she said.
Krishnamoorthi
Born in India, Krishnamoorthi came to the U.S. with his family when he was three months old. After 10 years in Congress, he says he still lives by advice from his parents: “Make sure this country is there for the next families who need it.”
"But that American dream that we were privileged to attain is disappearing for millions of people. That legal immigration system that enabled us to come here is being actively dismantled every single day,” he said.
Public housing and food stamps his family relied on when his father was out of work “are on the chopping block,” he said. And public schools are under threat as Trump seeks to shutter the Department of Education.
Stratton
Stratton, meanwhile, promised to be a “fighter,” and held up her role as Gov. JB Pritzker’s lieutenant as a sign of what she would do.
She touted raised wages, creation of thousands of jobs and seven consecutive balanced budgets that resulted in numerous increases in Illinois’ credit rating. She praised “common sense” gun safety legislation and protection of reproductive freedom.
Tariffs
The three agreed tariffs hurt American businesses, and particularly Illinois’ soybean farmers, who saw China all but cut off imports. And elsewhere, they raised prices for consumers.
And while the Supreme Court invalidated blanket tariffs, none of the candidates thought the issue was dead.
“We know that’s not the end of this,” Stratton said. “We see Republicans in Congress already talking about how they want to go back to these tariffs,” which she called “a tax on working families.”
And Kelly said some of her constituents who are farmers think they’ll never get back to where they were because of other arrangement China has made with countries like Brazil.
Abolish “ICE” or “Trump’s ICE?”
All the candidates agreed ICE couldn’t continue to exist it its current form, and shouldn’t receive any funding.
Stratton called for the agency’s outright abolishment. “And this is not about immigration. This is not about public safety. This is Donald Trump wanting to normalize the presence of the military in American cities — especially Democratic- led cities,” she said.
Krishnamoorthi called for abolishing “Trump’s ICE.” He believes masks should be prohibited, along with warrantless arrests, while body cams and IDs should be required. He echoed Stratton’s concern about the presence of federal forces, saying they should be barred from being near polling places.
Kelly noted that while there’s a need for law enforcement and border control, she suggested dismantling the Department of Homeland Security entirely and handling asylum, citizenship and all its duties differently.
Budget deficit
Kelly called it “the Big Ugly Bill.” Krishnamoorthi said it was the “Large Lousy Law.” But all three agreed that Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” was anything but.
“It ticks me off, frankly, that Donald Trump and his millionaire billionaire friends are getting richer when everybody else is feeling squeezed and struggling,” Kelly said
Krishnamoorthi agreed, claiming tax cuts for the wealthy were shouldered by cutting health care for 13 million people and “by putting the rest on the nation’s credit card."
The answer, they agreed, is to tax the wealthy and use those funds to restore cuts and aid the middle class.
Cost of living
Stratton promised to fight for a $25 minimum wage, noting the federal minimum is $7.25, while Illinois is at $15.
Kelly said $17 was more doable, saying anything more could hurt small businesses.
Krishnamoorthi focused on breaking up monopolies, pointing to his opposition to the failed merger of Kroger and Albertsons. He also said the repeal of tax credits for renewable power couldn’t help but drive up costs.
“Because when you take wind and (solar) energy offline when demand is going up that means higher electricity bills for all of us,” he said.
He also pushed for a 10% refundable housing credit for first-time homebuyers similar to what had been done in the Obama administration.
Other topics included improving infrastructure, vaccines, diversity and inclusion and how to work across the aisle in the current polarized environment.
The format of the event was question-and-answer, so there was no direct back-and-forth among the candidates.
Candidates were chosen for the forum based on their fundraising amounts and “evidence of an active campaign, as determined by their website.” Other Democratic candidates include Steve Botsford, Sean Brown, Awisi Bustos, Jonathan Dean, Bryan Maxwell and Kevin Ryan.
The forum, along with one for Republicans, (link this story,) are available to stream on demand or via the PBS app.
The primary election Tuesday, March 17.
