Republican candidate for state Senate

I walked house to house in Naperville this weekend for candidate Julie Berkowicz, who is running for state senator of the 21st District. She is a Republican who has worked with Democrats and Republicans on the Will County Board against taxes.

An elder white woman was interested but said she had already voted for all Democrats because she does not like Donald Trump. I asked if she knew that Julie's opponent, Laura Ellman, introduced the assisted suicide bill. She said no and that if she had known about Julie, she would've voted for her.

A Hispanic mother did not want to talk to me. She had a sign for a private school in her yard, and I asked if she knew that there is a federal program for private school scholarships that would cost the state no money if Gov. JB Pritzker would opt in. But he refuses. She asked to see my information.

A middle-aged white man told me he was Independent and open-minded. Yet he blamed Trump for all of Illinois' problems. I told him that the election was mostly for state and local candidates and issues and that Pritzker has had a Democratic legislature to solve the problems. He said that Michael Madigan actually started most of the problems. I asked, with 30 years of one-party rule, if maybe now he'd be open to looking at Julie. My open-minded friend refused.

A mid-40s Black man had recently moved to Naperville and said that he didn't even know who the Republicans were. He thought everyone was Democratic. He lamented that Black Chicagoans keep voting for Democrats year after year, but nothing ever changes. He was excited to hear about Julie and that maybe there is a solution besides more taxes.

Learn about the issues. There are good candidates.

Nick DiGiovanni, Naperville