Davis, Rice try to differentiate themselves at debate in 8th Congressional District GOP primary
Two of the four balloted candidates in the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District seat being vacated by Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi aimed to differentiate themselves at a debate that allowed them to question each other in Schaumburg Tuesday.
Facing off were businessman Mark Rice of Arlington Heights who lost to Krishnamoorthi in the 2024 general election, and first-time candidate and businesswoman Jennifer Davis of Huntley.
Not invited to the Schaumburg Township Republican Organization forum were fellow candidates Kevin Ake of Elk Grove Village and Herbert Hebein of Chicago, as they hadn’t filed any significant campaign fundraising with the Federal Election Commission, an organizer said.
Davis is the co-founder and former CEO of Davisware, a software company, and author. Rice is the founder and CEO of a Chicago-based energy business.
The first part of the event, which can be viewed in its entirety at Facebook.com/SchaumburgGOP, saw the two candidates fielding questions on broad topics like immigration, foreign policy, tariffs, education and Social Security.
But it was during the latter half of the debate where things turned fiery as they lobbed questions at one another.
Rice questioned any “America First” credentials Davis might claim as the GOP candidate after she spoke of hiring workers in India for her company, something he said he’d never do.
“Am I missing something?” Rice asked. “Help me understand how that isn’t hiring foreign workers?”
Davis responded that many American companies use foreign resources, including the energy Rice buys and sells.
“The United States has outsourced so much of the resources that we have and so utilizing the resources that exist globally is certainly a methodology for helping build America,” she said. “That is what we did, that is how we grew our company exponentially over the decades that we did it.”
Davis in turn questioned Rice’s credentials to represent the party again after losing to Krishnamoorthi, by what she said he claimed was 2% of the vote.
“Raja had 172,000 votes and you got 130,000 votes,” Davis said. “While I didn’t go to school for math, that is not 2%.”
“You checked the math, but you didn’t check your ears,” Rice said. “Because what I said is Donald Trump lost (the district) by 2%.”
He added his performance showed him to be a viable candidate for a race that won’t include Krishnamoorthi this year.
“I got 40% more votes than anybody got who ran in my position before me,” Rice said.
Rice claimed many Hindu Indians in the district who would normally vote Republican instead cast ballots for Krishnamoorthi in previous races. Without Krishnamoorthi in the race this time, Rice expects them to vote Republican.
“I’m sorry, but that’s borne out in the numbers and I would point you to a lot of data that shows that,” he said.
Both candidates, along with Ake, will meet again at a forum organized by the League of Women Voters of the Palatine, Barrington and Schaumburg Areas (LWVPA) from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7 at Harper College’s Wojcik Conference Center, 1200 Algonquin Road in Palatine.
All eight Democratic candidates will participate in a separate forum from 10 a.m. to noon on the same date at the same location. They are Junaid Ahmed of South Barrington, Yasmeen Bankole of Hanover Park, Melissa Bean of Barrington, Sanjyot Dunung of Des Plaines, Neil Khot of Hoffman Estates, Kevin Morrison of Mount Prospect, Dan Tully of Carol Stream and Ryan Vetticad of South Barrington.