No endorsement in 14th Congressional District

Since longtime Republican congressman Randy Hultgren was shown the door in the 2018 election to upstart Democrat Lauren Underwood in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, the GOP has had a tough time finding a worthy challenger for her.

That continues this year, with perennial candidate James Marter of Oswego and first-time candidate Charlie Kim squaring off.

Marter ran in Republican primaries for the 14th in 2022 and 2020 and lost. In 2018 he ran for Congress in the 16th District and lost. And in 2016 he ran for the U.S. Senate and lost. Marter’s hard-line approach on immigration and adherence to former President Donald Trump’s philosophies hasn’t resonated yet with voters, and there is nothing to suggest that will change this year. Marter has said he believes Joe Biden did not win the 2020 presidential election. That’s a non-starter for us.

Kim, of Naperville, actually lives in the 11th Congressional District and had planned to run as a Democrat against incumbent Bill Foster but figured he couldn’t beat Foster. So at a friend’s urging, he filed as a Republican in the 14th District, which covers an area from Aurora west nearly to Princeton and from Ottawa north to Sycamore.

Would that we could endorse Kim, but he too feels Biden did not win the 2020 election. His website and his Daily Herald candidate questionnaire offer plenty of platitudes but not much in the way of solutions. Two marked differences between the candidates include support for Ukraine and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, both of which Kim supports and Marter does not.

While Kim in many ways has a less hard-line approach to governing than Marter does, we don’t feel he’s suitable for the job, either.