Casten, Newman to appear at Willowbrook candidate forum

The two incumbent lawmakers seeking the Democratic nomination in Illinois' 6th Congressional District will come together Friday for a candidate forum in Willowbrook.

Two Republicans will participate, too.

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, who now represents the 6th, and U.S. Rep. Marie Casten of La Grange, who represents the 3rd District, will talk about the issues facing the district and the nation at the Mecca Center, 16W560 91st St. They'll be joined by GOP candidates Rob Cruz of Oak Lawn and Gary Grasso of Burr Ridge.

The forum will run from 6 to 7:45 p.m.

Sponsoring the event are the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition; the DuPage Federation of Human Services Reform; Empower Southwest; Illinois NOW; the Indo-American Democratic Organization; the Islamic Center of Naperville; Latino Policy Forum; the Mohammed Webb Foundation; NAACP-Dupage; and the Mecca Center.

The newly redrawn 6th District includes much of the West and Southwest suburbs in Cook and DuPage counties.

The June 28 Democratic primary is the only Illinois congressional race to feature two Democratic incumbents. Newman's home is in the new 4th District but near the 6th.

Democratic candidate Charles Hughes of Chicago isn't participating in the forum, nor are four other GOP hopefuls.

In addition to Cruz and Grasso, the Republican candidates are: Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn; Scott Kaspar of Orland Park; Catherine A. O'Shea of Oak Lawn; and Keith Pekau of Orland Park.

The Democrats and all the Republicans except Kaspar met this week in online forums hosted by suburban League of Women Voters groups. Recordings of those forums are available on the League of Women Voters of Glen Ellyn's YouTube page.