For the second election cycle in a row, one of Illinois’ seats in the United States Senate is being contested, and the Democratic incumbent is looking to stay in Washington.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth is running for her second term in office, having defeated incumbent Mark Kirk in the 2016 election.
Duckworth is currently serving on the Senate’s Armed Services’ committee, as well as the Environment and Public Works committee. She also chairs the Senate subcommittees on Airland and Fisheries, Water and Wildlife.
While Duckworth is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, the Republican side of the ledger is significantly more crowded, with seven candidates currently on the GOP ballot.
Here are the candidates running for Senate:
Democrats –
Sen. Tammy Duckworth
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Duckworth’s campaign website says that she will continue focusing on eliminating bureaucratic and systemic problems that are impacting the nation’s veterans and their families. She is also looking to invest in job development programs, pushing ahead with additional funding for Social Security and Medicare, and “advocating for environmental justice” if elected to a second term.
Republicans –
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Casey Chlebek
A Polish immigrant who worked for years for companies like Zenith and Northern Trust Bank, Chlebek is running on a platform of curbing government spending and cutting taxes. He also wants to encourage parents to send children to private schools, expand vocational school training programs and to dramatically overhaul immigration laws in the U.S.
Matthew Dubiel
A Naperville-native, Dubiel’s campaign website says that he will run on an “America First” platform that includes school choice, increasing investment in law enforcement, border security and medical freedom, including campaigning against mask mandates and other health mitigations undertaken during the COVID pandemic.
Peggy Hubbard
A former police officer and a Navy veteran, Hubbard is campaigning on a platform to reduce the size of government, emphasizing preventative health care to improve outcomes, and to invest in border security and immigration reform, according to her campaign website.
Bobby Piton
A portfolio manager, Piton is running on a platform that includes term limits at all levels of government, as well as calling for a “full nationwide audit” of the 2020 presidential election. He is also pledging to work to abolish the Department of Education and says he would push for legislation to “strip lawmakers of their position” if they vote to enforce executive orders like mask mandates and other COVID mitigations.
Kathy Salvi
Salvi, a licensed attorney for more than 30 years, says she is running on a platform to lower costs and energy prices for regular Americans. She also is seeking additional funding and support for law enforcement, and she is pushing for parental control over what their children learn in schools, according to her campaign website.
Jimmy Tillman II
Tillman, an Academy Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, has been critical of the Biden administration’s policies on border security and COVID response on his campaign website. He has also criticized mask and vaccine mandates, and says he intends to run on an “America First” platform similar to that of former President Donald Trump.
Anthony Williams
A pastor in Chicago, Williams is a fierce advocate for anti-violence initiatives, but says that focusing on illegal guns won’t achieve that goal. Instead, his campaign is pushing for rebuilding neighborhoods and focusing on mental health, according to an interview he conducted with Patch’s Mark Konkol.
