Discussion of healthcare, federal spending priorities and education were among some of the hot topics highlighted at a town hall on Wednesday, as Jim Marter, R-Oswego, seeks to connect to voters in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District ahead of the November election.

Marter is vying for a seat in Congress this fall, hoping to replace incumbent candidate Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville.

District 14 includes portions of Bureau, DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Putnam and Will counties.

The town hall, held at the Hinckley Community Center, opened up with some remarks from Marter and was followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

In his public remarks, Marter said he believes healthcare is at issue.

“A lot of folks, including my opponent, will lie to people about what I would do or not do with respect to healthcare,” Marter said.

When asked for comment about the town hall, the campaign team for Underwood declined.

Marter said the Affordable Care Act is not achieving its intended aim, as healthcare did in 2002 when he turned to the marketplace for private health insurance. Last fall, she and other Democrats pushed for the Premium Tax Credits enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to be extended.

“The problem was it’s become anything but affordable unless you’re the one at the bottom of the scale, which most people are not, by the way,” Marter said. “Most working people don’t get the free plans. They don’t get all those benefits that the politicians in Washington like to talk about. So, it ran the cost of everything up.”

Underwood, a licensed nurse, has attempted to take steps to alleviate the financial burden of health care for Illinoisans.

Also discussed during the town hall were federal spending priorities.

Marter questioned whether special interests are influencing how taxpayer money is allocated.

The Hinckley Public Library was named a beneficiary of over $1 million in federal funding, secured with help from Underwood in 2024. The money was netted to help complete the second phase of rehabilitation and renovations to the 6,000-square-foot building, which needed improvements to address asbestos and patron accessibility issues. Underwood has said the funding helps support local communities and resources residents care about.

“Why are we doing that?” Marter said. “Why are we using the federal government to fund out, loan some money here and loan some money there?”

Marter previously served on the Oswego Public Library District’s Board of Trustees from 2021 to 2025.

“It’s an interesting thing, but if you look around the country all of our history, libraries usually they’re funded locally, not with federal dollars,” Marter said. “I would only ask the question, was that the best use of your money? Because that money was your money, was my money, was everyone in the 14th district who’s been taxed, who works, and has been taxed.”

During the Q&A session, Big Rock resident Rand York expressed his support for Marter.

“I find that I’ve never found the platform I’ve agreed with all the way up and down the line,” York said. “I never found a political candidate with whom I agreed on everything. I disagree with you on a number of things, but what’s important is that I trust you. That is one of the rarest things in politics – the people that you can actually trust.”

York said he believes the nation has become divisive these days, and he wants a representative in Congress who understands that and is open to bridging the divide.

“You don’t have blinders on where you’re not going to hear what anyone has to say,” York said. “That is what we need in a representative, not an idealist. But a realist who understands the people that you purport to represent, which I do not believe that our current representative does. ... But you are one of those, I think, rare people who do listen and who don’t write anybody off.”

York’s sentiments were shared by some attendees of the town hall, including Hinckley residents Tim and Debbie Hannan.

“It has become segmented,” Debbie Hannan said. “There’s no feeling of community.”

Debbie Hannan said Marter provides a different voice for voters at a time when conservative views may not always be heard.

Marter has been taking to the campaign trail ahead of the Nov. 3 election by hosting meet-and-greets, attending events and hosting the first of what he said is hoped to be several planned town halls.

Marter said he wants the voters to get to know him better.

“One of our main goals this cycle is to do whatever we can [to] get the message out,” Marter said.

After the meeting, when asked if he would stand up to Republican President Donald Trump should he ever not agree with him, Marter said he believes he’s the right candidate for the job.

“I can tell you that with me and President Trump, there’s probably a number of issues we don’t agree at all on,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t have a relationship with him, that I can’t support the things that I do support him doing, and that I can’t, let’s say, vote the other way on things that I don’t agree with. To me, that would be a non-issue for me.”