Senate race heats up as Democratic front-runners trade attacks on ICE, campaign finance
The U.S. Senate campaign lurched into attack mode Monday during a televised debate between Democratic front-runners Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Stratton went on offense first while answering a question about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota, citing Krishnamoorthi’s receipt of campaign donations from an ICE-affiliated contractor.
That “is not the example of someone who will stand up to Donald Trump and fight for all our communities,” the Chicagoan said.
Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg said when the contribution came to his attention he had donated it to immigrant support groups. He noted, “I’m the only immigrant on stage. I’ve done the hard work of trying to make ICE accountable.”
Stratton also said she was the only candidate “who made the commitment to not accept one single dime of corporate PAC money in this campaign.”
Kelly of Lynwood rebutted, “I take corporate PAC money. But check the record. Check how I vote. I vote what the people who put me into office want me to vote.” She added her donations are public, unlike a Stratton ad where “we don’t know who paid for those commercials.”
Krishnamoorthi agreed, criticizing Stratton for taking Super PAC funds. “We have no idea who’s fueling this,” he said.
The candidates in the March 17 primary were asked what ICE reforms they would support following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Stratton said, “I want to abolish ICE because this agency cannot be reformed. It doesn’t matter whose ICE it is. It needs to be abolished and we need to move this country forward.
“I believe we have to abolish Trump’s ICE in light of what happened,” Krishnamoorthi said. “What we’re seeing now cannot continue.” He added, “not a single dollar more for ICE or DHS.”
Kelly said, “we need to dismantle ICE. We need to impeach (Secretary Kristi) Noem and we need to build an agency that people can trust. DHS is too big and unwieldy and not accountable.”
The candidates also touched on data centers.
“There needs to be some guidelines and parameters so people’s electricity rates don’t rise,” Kelly said. That could include a tax credit or a voucher for residents living near data centers.
Stratton said, “as we see expansions of data centers, we know Illinoisans are concerned about rising utility costs and we have to address that.” She added the state lifting a moratorium on nuclear energy plants was one solution.
Krishnamoorthi noted that data centers “consume more electricity than they produce” but also are a source of jobs. He advocated for new data centers that “should produce more energy than they consume.”
The debate was sponsored by WBEZ and the Sun-Times.