2024 Voter Guide: Candidates for 12th Congressional District Democratic primary
Preston Gabriel Nelson
Age as of March 19, 2024: 33
Campaign website or social media page: www.vote4nelson.com
Office seeking: US Representative, Illinois 12
Are you an incumbent? No
Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought) Yes: United States Representative, Illinois Treasurer
Occupation: Director, Martin Solar
Education: A.A.S Information Technology, Rend Lake College
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: Volunteer teacher & translator; Habitat for Humanity
Who are your top three campaign contributors? Myself, my uncle Charles Behrle, and my brother Taylor Nelson.
Why are you running? To truly represent real people. Special interests have bought up all our representative’s time and attention. Prioritizing special interests has led to numerous crises, including inflation, perpetual war, and chronic disease. I hope to quickly work to expel corruption from our nation’s capitol, and reclaim our nation to again be a safe, healthy, and happy beacon of democracy.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it?
INFLATION - Stop giving away public dollars to special interests including the military industrial complex. This will protect our currency in the short and long-term in order to have a healthy economy, strong wages, safe savings, and the hope of retirement.
HEALTH & DISEASE - Chronic disease is skyrocketing. First, this causes an incredible financial strain on private individuals, and the public. Second, it results in heartbreak. Protect our families against food-borne and household pollution by returning the FDA to a role of public protector, rather than it simply selling licenses to pollute.
Why should people vote for you? The World Trade Center was hit when I was 11 years old. I have closely followed geo-politics ever since. I have been warning about the present inflation since my first campaign in 2017-2018. It was not a well-known hot-button issue, then, but I had studied economics and could see what was coming. I also realized that it was the result of unsustainable spending, and that spending was the policy promoted by special interest lobbyists, who control Washington by bankrolling establishment Party politicians.
The public is my only interest. I want to restore our nation to healthy democracy, freedom, and prosperity.
What would you do to increase good-paying jobs in southern Illinois? I am already bringing good-paying jobs to Southern Illinois. We need leadership and representation that is truly interested in our local community. I have successfully worked to bring solar energy, technology, and jobs to our district. No matter the results of this election, I will continue to expand the industry in Southern Illinois. There are a lot of misconceptions about solar energy, but it is one of the best technological developments, and an awesome industry to play part in. Moreover, Southern Illinois is arguably the best place in the USA for solar. I would be very pleased to assist anyone interested in a career in solar energy technology, whether at my own company, or any other. The best place to start is a non-profit called “Midwest Renewable Energy Association” www.midwestrenew.org. The MREA was founded in 1990, coincidentally when I was born!
What would you do to help southern Illinois communities improve their infrastructure and spur economic development, including communities that find they don’t qualify for federal grants? First, I would expand criteria by which communities, schools, and business may use to apply for grants. No one should be denied federal funding because of their address. Moreover, I would opt to leave public monies in their local communities, rather than taxing them at the federal level in order to send them to overseas special interests.
What would you do to help southern Illinois communities improve public safety? Again, allow public funds to remain inside of local communities in order to make more immediate, effective, and efficient use of those monies.
Many small jurisdictions cannot afford local police, and their fire department is 20 minutes away. At the same time, the members of those communities are often heavily taxed by a federal government that sends their money to special interests, big corporations, and foreign governments. This has happened for far too long. It’s time for the federal government to stop taking people’s money and giving it away for special interests. Tax dollars should be used only for real welfare: infrastructure, and public services that benefit everyone.
What’s your position on Illinois’ new assault weapons ban? It has worked to increase division within the state. The new law has improperly defined many good, law-abiding citizens as criminals. Whether it’s the Patriot Act, the National Defense Authorization Act, or the Federal Reserve Act, misguided (and poorly-named) laws lead to unintended consequences. We need legislators who actually read and write their own legislation, rather than lobbyists. Legislators who are serious about gun violence should: provide better funding for local law enforcement, repeal bad laws that force police to waste time and resources on pettiness so that they can focus on real crime, and so enforce the multitude of prior law already on the books that would have prevented tragedy.
In 2023, Congress passed a historically low amount of bills, and it didn’t agree to a budget. What do you think needs to be done to pass important legislation in 2024 and beyond? The electorate must elect mature representatives and legislators who are serious about going to work. I think that we should throw the entire two-party system out the window, their perpetual antagonism has been our undoing, and both sides are at fault.
What’s your solution to fixing the nation’s immigration system? Coordinate with philanthropists, humanitarian organizations, investment professionals, and billionaires in order to rapidly build new cities on the Mexican side of the border where immigrants may immediately begin living safe lives in thriving communities. The vast majority of asylum seekers are young, and of working age. This is a huge opportunity for them, and whichever host nation may accommodate them! Unfortunately, the USA is so politicized currently, our infrastructure is not adequate, and our political leaders are not competent to sufficiently house and care for the influx of people. However, people are infinitely valuable. Offered the right opportunity people are MVPs! It’s up to all the world’s leaders to foster the right environment for human progress.
If you are the incumbent, what’s been your biggest achievement for the district? If you are the challenger, what would you like to accomplish for the district that you haven’t seen the incumbent accomplish, and how would you do it? I would get serious on inflation, and the economy. I would protect our currency for the long-term, so that people’s wages and savings remain valuable in order that we may all hope to retire in peace. I would like to help set our nation on a positive path toward the future.
Brian Roberts
The BND has not received a response from Democratic primary 12th Congressional District candidate Brian Roberts.
