Daily Herald endorsement: Tanner Miller in 11th Congressional Republican primary

The winner of the Republican primary for the 11th Congressional District faces an uphill battle in challenging incumbent Democrat Bill Foster in November.

For one, just one of the candidates has any governmental experience. For another, many of their views on several topics are extreme and not likely to fare well in the November general election campaign.

The candidates include: Catalina Lauf of Woodstock, who ran in the Republican primary for the 14th Congressional District two years ago; music school owner Jerry Evans of Warrenville, who also ran in the 14th; attorney Mark Carroll, a North Aurora village trustee; business executive Susan Hathaway-Altman, who lives near Geneva; Cassandra Tanner Miller, a domestic violence advocate from Elgin: and Andrea Heeg, who declined to participate in our interview or provide answers to our questionnaire.

The district covers parts of Naperville, Aurora, North Aurora, Woodridge, Bolingbrook and Joliet.

We asked whether Joe Biden was the winner of the 2020 presidential election. In our questionnaires, candidates hemmed and hawed on an answer, casting underlying doubt. Tanner Miller came closest to conceding Biden won the election.

All of the candidates espoused reliably hard-line conservative views on voter access, climate change and the Affordable Care Act.

It's worth noting that Hathaway-Altman said she can't determine whether Biden won the election or even that there was an insurrection at the Capitol - because she did not witness it in person. Hers would be a vote wasted.

Tanner Miller did not attend an editorial board interview to explore the issues further, but in her answers to our questionnaire expressed a less isolationist view than some of her opponents and came closest to conceding Biden won.

Tanner Miller is endorsed.