To the Editor:
The average size of a congressional district is more than 700,000 people so it should be easy to find people interested in running for Congress. That’s not true in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District. To my knowledge, only Evelyn Sanguinetti and Jeanne Ives have announced they’re running. That should concern Republicans, who lost the 6th District last year and desperately want to win it back in 2020.
Are these two candidates the best to lead their party to victory? Sanguinetti lost her reelection bid as lieutenant governor. She and Bruce Rauner lost the general election in a historic landslide. One might wonder how someone who just lost so badly can win.
Ives is not unfamiliar with defeat, either. Months before Rauner and Sanguinetti lost, it was Ives who challenged them in the primary – and lost! Ives lost to people who lost.
This raises electability concerns about both candidates. A 2020 primary with these two candidates will reopen wounds from the disastrous 2018 election. Reigniting animosity between moderate and conservative Republicans will divide the party and scare off independents at a time when the party needs to be unified if it seriously wants to win back that seat.
It seems delusional and selfish that these two candidates believe they’re the best people to lead the party back to victory in that district. The candidate, if the party is serious about wanting to win, should be anybody except them.
They both should drop out. If not, get ready for a hostile primary followed by Democrats inevitably winning.
Joseph Monack
Woodstock