GOP need better candidates in 6th District

The average population of a Congressional district is over 700,000. so it should be easy to find people interested in running for Congress. That's not true in Illinois' Sixth District. To my knowledge, only Evelyn Sanguinetti and Jeanne Ives have announced they're running. That should concern Republicans, who lost the district last year and desperately want to win it back in 2020.

Are these two candidates the best to lead their party to victory? Sanguinetti lost her re-election bid as lieutenant governor. She and Bruce Rauner lost the general election in a historic landslide. One might wonder how someone who just lost so bad can win.

Ives is not unfamiliar with defeat either. Months before Rauner and Sanguinetti lost, it was Ives who primary challenged them - and lost. Ives lost to people who lost.

This raises electability concerns about both candidates. A 2020 primary with these two candidates will reopen wounds from the disastrous 2018 election. Reigniting animosity between moderate and conservative Republicans will divide the party and scare off independents at a time when the party needs to be unified if it seriously wants to win that seat back.

It seems delusional and selfish that these two candidates believe they're the best people to lead the party back to victory in that district. The candidate, if the party is serious about winning, should be anybody except them.

They should both drop out. If not, get ready for a hostile primary followed by Democrats inevitably winning.

Joseph Monack

Woodstock