Keara Harp
kmharp@lc.edu
The National Election is just around the corner. In less than a month on the sixth of November, United States citizens will be flocking to the polls to place their votes for Congress. One-third of the Senate and all 435 seats of the House of Representatives will be up for election.
The Senate seats of Illinois are not up for reelection during the 2018 race, but there are eighteen seats for the House of Representatives that are all in the race.
Lewis and Clark Community College falls on the border of the 12th and 13th Congressional Districts. Students of Lewis and Clark Community College will be voting for either the 12th or the 13th Representatives.
For the 12th District, there are three politicians running, Randy Auxier with a third party, Michael Bost the republican party, and Brendan Kelly with the democratic party.
For the 13th District, there are two politicians running, Rodney Davis for the Republican party, and Betsy Londrigan from the democratic party.
Randy Auxier is from the green party. He claims his three main goals to be green energy, green transportation, and healthcare. He is an advocate of sustainability.
Michael Bost is the incumbent politician; he currently holds office and has held office since November of 1994. His platform contains some of the following: improving agriculture, moving towards energy independence, accessible and affordable health care, and reigning in government spending.
Brendan Kelly’s campaign slogan is “Restore Faith in Southern Illinois”. He has twelve points that he claims he will be working to change in the government. There is too much money in politics, gerrymandering is a problem, more limits on terms, useless layers of government need to be cut, people should be automatically registered for voting at the age of 18, and expanding the ability of the public to enforce laws against corruption in all levels of the government.
Rodney Davis is the incumbent politician. Campaign themes include more jobs and improving the economy, an improvement of government accountability, tax reforms, cutting back on government spending, and eliminating Obamacare.
Betsy Londrigan is focused on improving healthcare. She is adamant that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. She is in support of Planned Parenthood and believes a woman should have a right to her own healthcare decisions.
