Republican candidate for 8th Congressional District hammers opponents over their religious beliefs

A candidate in the 8th Congressional District Republican primary — convicted of a hate crime a quarter century ago — attacked two of his opponents’ religious beliefs in a joint interview.

Kevin Ake from Elk Grove Village, a self-described “born again Christian,” spoke about his conviction for verbal harassment due to sexual orientation and opined about the U.S. relationship with Israel. He hammered the two other candidates present at the Daily Herald endorsement interview over their faith, insisting Jesus was the “Jewish messiah” to Jewish candidate Mark Rice from Arlington Heights and telling Catholic candidate Jennifer Davis of Huntley she believes in a “false pope.”

“I believe in Israel,” Ake said. “I believe Jesus Christ is the Jewish messiah as listed in Isaiah 7:14 and 9 verses 6 and 7. Where Mark Rice is just waiting for his messiah and the Jewish people think they’re waiting for their messiah, Jesus Christ is the Jewish messiah.”

The topic dominated a portion of the interview that otherwise had touched on issues related to affordability, immigration enforcement, checks on presidential power and foreign policy. A fourth candidate in the race, Herbert Hebein, did not attend.

“Kevin, I want to make America great,” Rice responded. “I don’t know if the messiah is Jesus. We can talk about that some other time. I just don’t know where you’re going with it.”

Ake, who called himself a better candidate than his two entrepreneurial opponents for being a certified public account, also made clear he recognized no kinship between his type of Christianity and Davis’ Catholicism.

“Jennifer, there’s no pope in the Holy Bible and you don’t pray to Mary or saints in the Holy Bible,” he said. “I’ve never read anything about Catholicism in the Holy Bible.”

“I’m proud of my faith,” Davis replied. “I’m unapologetic over that, but that doesn’t diminish or devalue any of Mark’s beliefs or anyone else’s. We are a melting pot of a country and we certainly need to allow those to coexist.”

Ake said his conviction came from phone harassment of a lesbian director of a YMCA. She evicted him from a building where he wanted to start a Bible study. He believed her sexual orientation clashed with the values of the Young Men’s Christian Association.

“People that do these things are an abomination to God,” Ake said. “I'm just telling you what the Bible says, and I got thrown out of an organization — the Young Men's Christian organization — for believing what the Bible says, by people who don't believe that. It's really kind of sad. They have sick, perverted behavior.”

Davis and Rice made clear their disagreement with Ake’s views.

“I think persecuting others with hateful speech or rhetoric about their beliefs is absolutely wrong,” Davis said. “And any hate speech is wrong and has no tolerance in our world.”

“Well, I’ll say, Kevin, I’m going to pray for you. How’s that?” Rice said. “And you may not believe in the same God I do. I can’t figure you out.”

Rice noted the conversation shows just how diminished the Republican Party has become in Illinois that some congressional races this year haven’t ensured the presence of quality candidates.

“To have to come on debates and debate people who are actually running for the same office I am and these people can’t even have a civil conversation — and frankly they sound like they’re a little bit out there — it’s embarrassing,” he said.

The three candidates are scheduled to meet again at a forum organized by the League of Women Voters of the Palatine, Barrington and Schaumburg Areas 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.

The 8th District includes parts of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties.