13th Congressional District hopefuls meet in candidate forum. Here's what they said

Candidates for Congress discussed inflation, abortion, health care and more Tuesday during a forum at Lincoln Library hosted by the Springfield-based Faith Coalition for the Common Good.

Four of the six candidates running for office took part in the event. Republicans Regan Deering and Terry Martin appeared alongside Democrats Nikki Budzinski and David Palmer. Republicans Matt Hausman and Jesse Reising did not appear.

The event's host, Jim Leach, said Reising had confirmed his intention to attend before backing out, though Reising's campaign said they never confirmed his attendance.

The candidates are hoping to represent Illinois' new 13th Congressional District, which contains most of metropolitan Champaign, Decatur, Springfield and parts of the Metro East. It includes parts of Champaign, Macon, Madison, Piatt, Sangamon and St. Clair counties as well as the entirety of Macoupin County.

Illinois primary: Newcomers battle over open seat in Illinois' 13th Congressional District

The primary election is scheduled for June 28, though early voting has already begun. The winners of the primary will go on to face off in the Nov. 8 general election.

Candidates differ on how to handle the economy

As of May, year over year inflation is about 8.3%, the highest its been since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it reached well over 10%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This, combined with increasing gasoline prices, was one of the central issues addressed by candidates on Tuesday.

For Democratic candidate Nikki Budzinski, inflation and rising gas prices need to be addressed in the short term by instituting stop-gap measures. She praised Gov. JB Pritzker's proposal to temporarily pause a planned increase to the state gas tax and other temporary tax relief. Budzinski said in the long term, more structural changes are needed.

"One of the bigger issues the 13th district needs to be tackling is our over-reliance on a global supply chain," said Budzinski.

Though Palmer did not identify the economy as his top issue, he did advocate for investments in clean energy and increasing the minimum wage as ways to help the shrinking middle class.

"The minimum wage nationally is appalling, and I think we have to step up right now," said Palmer. "When we talk about the erosion of the middle class, this is where it starts."

Palmer specifically said a $15 minimum wage doesn't go far enough.

On the Republican side, Deering said the economy and inflation was one of her top priorities. She advocated for workforce investment, investment in education and relying on public-private partnerships.

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"We've got job openings across this district," said Deering. "We're not meeting the skill set that's necessary to fill those jobs."

Martin said the middle class is being "crushed" by increased inflation and the cost of gasoline.

"What's causing this, I would say, is President Biden's attack on fossil fuels," said Martin.

Most Republicans refuse to answer question about 2020 election

Several topics on Tuesday night highlighted the partisan divide between candidates, most notably the difference in the way candidates discussed the 2020 election.

Each candidate was asked if they believe the 2020 election results were fairly decided.

Each of the Democratic candidates immediately responded that the 2020 election was fairly decided.

But for the Republican candidates, they wouldn't commit to saying it.

"We have Joe Biden sitting as our current president, and he is destroying this country," said Deering.

Terry Martin explicitly refused to answer the question.

"I don't want to say who won the election," said Martin. "Joe Biden is the president, for better or worse. I would say for worse."

The two Republican candidates who did not appear at Tuesday's debate, Reising and Hausman, were asked a similar question at a June 2 candidate forum hosted by NPR Illinois. They were asked if Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election and if the election was free and fair.

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Reising did not directly answer, though he did use the opportunity to criticize Biden.

"Joe Biden is legitimately the worst president we've had since Carter, so I can say that," said Reising.

Hausman, breaking from his opponents, has been the only Republican candidate for Illinois' 13th district to acknowledge the results of the 2020 election.

"Yes, Joe Biden won," said Hausman on June 2. "And yes, it was free and fair, as was said by Trump's own election security official."

The 2020 election was freely and fairly decided, with no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Trump-era Attorney General William Barr, in December 2020, told the Associated Press that his Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread fraud. In September 2021, a GOP-backed audit of the Arizona election found no evidence of fraud.

The Associated Press reviewed every potential case of voter fraud in the 2020 election in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and found 475 cases of fraud, a number that would have had no effect on the presidential election.

Despite evidence to the contrary, a majority, 58% of Republicans, believe that Joe Biden wasn't legitimately elected, according to a January poll from USA Today and Suffolk University.

Partisan divides clear on some issues, common ground on health care

For some issues on this election, the partisan divides were clear.

While the Democratic candidates both supported a woman's right to choose, the Republican candidates hoped to reduce the number of abortions performed. Democrats supported increasing the minimum wage, while Republicans opposed it, with Deering going as far as to say she didn't support having a national minimum wage at all.

But the candidates found some common ground on healthcare regulation.

"On certain drugs, like insulin, where someone needs it to live, there ought to be a price cap," said Martin, who said this is one area where a truly free market might not be appropriate.

This was echoed by Budzinski, who also advocated for a price cap on insulin Tuesday night.

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"We need to find ways to lower the costs of prescription drugs," she said.

The other two candidates, however, were divided on the future of the Affordable Care Act, which remains the dominant regulation for health care in the U.S. Deering said she hopes to reprioritize health care delivery.

"I don't think the Affordable Care Act is the best solution that we have on the table," said Deering, citing concerns about the costs to small businesses.

Palmer also said that we need a new system for health care, though he advocated going further than the ACA.

"I believe in a single-payer system," he said. "I think we need Medicare for All."

Contact Andrew Adams: aadams1@gannett.com; (312)-291-1417; twitter.com/drewjayadams.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: 13th Congressional District hopefuls discuss economy in forum