11th District candidates not the same kind of Democrats
When candidates from the same party face each other in a primary, it can often be difficult to contrast them. That’s not the case in the Democratic primary for the 11th Congressional District.
Bill Foster, Jim Hickey and Juan Thomas are all vying for the seat, but they’re coming to the race from different wings of the party.
Voters will be most familiar with Foster. He is the former 14th Congressional District representative. He lost his seat in 2010 to Republican Randy Hultgren and moved to Naperville for a shot at the 11th District seat. Foster openly wears the badge of “centrist,” even at a time where partisan politics have taken center stage in Washington.
“Gridlock is a huge problem,” Foster said. “We’re not going to be running against a moderate. The moderates in the (Republican) party have mostly either fled to the extreme right, or been voted out of office. That’s a recipe for gridlock. Part of the answer has to be for the voters to reward people who are, frankly, moderates willing to compromise, willing to get half a loaf, see how it works, and then come back to fix it next year.”
Thomas, of Aurora, said the idea that compromise is possible with the current Republicans in Congress is wishful thinking. He’s positioning himself has the hard-line progressive Democrat in the contest.
“This election is a choice between the elite and the working class, between the left and the right, between the values of the Tea Party and the values of the Occupy Movement,” Thomas said. “As Democrats, we have to fight back. I’m not running to cut deals with the Republicans. I’m not going to vote half the time with Republicans just because I don’t want to be viewed as someone who votes the party line. I also don’t want to vote the party line just for the sake of the party line. But I do think it’s important that you have the courage of your convictions.”
Hickey, at least socially, ranks among the more conservative element of the Democratic Party. He is a member of the NRA. He’s also an abortion opponent, but makes an exception where an abortion is needed to save the mother’s life and in cases of rape and incest. He does not support federal funding for abortion clinics.
That said, Hickey tags himself as the former owner of a small business for 20 years who understands the plight of the working class.
“We have too many multimillionaire, out-of-touch elitists in Congress,” Hickey said. “We need to have people who understand all the needs of the working class. Congress has lost touch with the small-business man.”
Hickey, of Orland Park, is also running a mostly grass-roots campaign devoid of the funding levels and political contributions both Foster and Thomas have received.
The primary election is March 20.