* Shia Kapos…

[U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam] will report that he’s raised $1 million in the second quarter, bringing his total for the cycle to $4.4 million.

Roskam faces Democrat Sean Casten, a scientist and clean-energy entrepreneur who’s raised $807,000 for Q2 and is at $1.96 million for the cycle. […]

Immigration a hot-button. Roskam, who has more so-called Dreamers in his district than in any other in the state, has gone out on a limb, to some extent, speaking out against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He even voted with Democrats on a recent anti-immigration measure.

“[D]ragging children away from their parents” is just plain wrong, said Roskam, who has held his seat since 2007.

Casten sees Roskam’s vote as disingenuous and has been courting the Latino voters. He’s teamed up with state representative candidate Karina Villa in West Chicago, specifically, to engage with the Latino community.

Impressive money. He’s gonna need every dime of it, too.

* The two men debated last week for the first time…

Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam and Democratic challenger Sean Casten sparred over recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions involving public unions and a travel ban in the first of what’s promised to be several debates leading up to the November election. […]

Among the topics covered in the first meet-up was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that public sector workers do not have to pay labor union fees if they don’t wish to be part of the union.

“Now government workers have the choice of whether they want to be in a union or not, and I think that that is something that is healthy for us,” Roskam said early in the debate. […]

“The Janus (v. AFSCME) decision really shouldn’t be a bipartisan question,” Casten said. “If you were to ask objectively, should people be allowed to receive a benefit they didn’t pay for, I think Republican, Democrat we would all agree that free riders make the economy less efficient.”

You can listen to the full debate by clicking here.

* From a Roskam press release…

When asked during a radio interview with WLS about a plan to raise taxes on gas, Casten said, “…absolutely we should raise the gas tax.”

Casten has been one of Mike Madigan’s most consistent supporters for a progressive tax hike.

Sean Casten supported Mike Madigan when his party voted to override the Governor’s veto, burdening Illinois taxpayers with a 32 percent state income tax hike.

Casten opposed the Governor’s recent budget because he said it didn’t do enough to raise taxes on Illinois residents.

Earlier this year, Casten announced his intention to repeal the tax breaks Sixth District families and small businesses received through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and support a plan to instead, raise their taxes.

In his white paper on tax policy, Casten proposes eliminating the cap on taxes for Social Security, claiming that senior citizens need to “pay their fair share to support” Social Security and Medicare.

“During the debate, Sean Casten renewed his promise to raise the gas tax, raise income taxes, support a progressive tax hike and support Mike Madigan’s plan to remove the property tax freeze,” said Roskam for Congress spokesman, Veronica Vera.

* After the debate, WFLD talked with both…

“Sean says we need to raise the gas tax. He says we need to take the cap off the social security earnings tax,” said Rep. Peter Roskam.

“He’s voted with the Republican party 97% of the time. He’s voted with Donald Trump 94% of the time. He is working very hard to redefine himself,” Casten said.

“That 94% figure, when pushed, he can’t give an answer to where I’m going against the sixth district. So, when I’m voting to cut taxes, deregulate the economy, create more buoyancy, trying to fix health care, that’s reflecting the sixth district,” Roskam responded.

Casten said he’d repeal the Republican tax cut bill that Roskam helped to write, because it added a trillion dollars to the national debt, among other things.