* As we discussed the other day, a poll conducted September 17-20 for the Betsy Dirksen Londrigan campaign has President Trump trailing by 7 points in the 13th Congressional District, 51-44. Trump won that district four years ago by 5.5 points. With that in mind…
Today, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s campaign released its fifth television ad, “Real,” which dives into Congressman Rodney Davis’ record of voting to gut health protections for Central Illinois families. Illinois Trump Campaign Co-Chair Rodney Davis has voted with the Trump agenda 91% of the time, including the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, in contrast to Dirksen Londrigan who is committed to ensuring access to quality, affordable health care and preserving the ACA and the Essential Health Benefits that Illinois families rely on.
The 30-second ad will air in the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur media market as part of a districtwide buy that includes broadcast, cable, and digital platforms.
Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement and repeatedly voted in support of a lawsuit that could lead to the Supreme Court overturning the Affordable Care Act by the end of 2020. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would strip health care coverage from millions, including more than 31,000 in the 13th District, and remove protections from more than 282,500 13th District residents with pre-existing conditions. The repeal would also roll back funding for Medicaid Expansion and risk the closure of rural hospitals, including many in Central Illinois.
“A Supreme Court controlled by Donald Trump could overturn the Affordable Care Act by the end of the year,” said the narrator. “Rodney Davis won’t help us. He votes with Trump and the drug and insurance industries that gave him over $770,000. Davis voted 11 times to gut protections for pre-existing conditions.”
“With the fate of the Affordable Care Act now more uncertain than ever, we can’t trust Rodney Davis to protect our health care,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. “Davis has voted 11 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement which would gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions and strip health care coverage from millions. We need representatives like Betsy Dirksen Londrigan who will fight to ensure everyone has access to quality, affordable health care.”
This morning, Jeanne Ives released a new ad contrasting Sean Casten’s record of self-dealing with her record of leading by example. The ad is entitled Peanuts.
After his inauguration, Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06), lobbied for Congressional pay increases, saying it’s “horrible” that they “work for peanuts” ($174,000 per year). As a state legislator, Ives refused a taxpayer funded pension, health benefits and voted against pay hikes for legislators.
Prior to running for Congress, Casten was a registered lobbyist. During the 2008 Great Recession, he became a wealthy man on the backs of hard working Americans when he got his own company $8 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies that should have gone to provide relief to struggling Americans.
But that wasn’t enough for elitist Sean Casten. Since arriving in Washington, he has advocated and voted to send more of your money to Washington DC to fund his big government ideas at every turn.
At $174,000, the families of IL-06 are not getting the representation they’re paying for, and Sean Casten wants more.
Betsy Londrigan just released an internal poll that shows her campaign down by only one percentage point in this key race! We knew the numbers would be tight but this shows this race has further tightened.
Friend, we’re counting on your support now more than ever. We must show Leftwing Londrigan who really has the support of the grassroots in this race. Londrigan’s record of supporting Nancy Pelosi’s radical agenda and palling around with corrupt Illinois politicians like Mike Madigan have NO place in Congress, much less in Downstate Illinois.
We knew this race was in a dead heat before this poll was released and this solidifies our fears. We can’t afford to have any supporters sitting on the sidelines. Can we count on your support today to show Londrigan that Team Rodney is ready to fight to defend this district?
Chip in any amount you can afford now to help Team Rodney respond in this key race.
I probably wouldn’t have posted Londrigan’s internal poll, but that email legitimized it.
* Londrigan campaign press release…
A new poll conducted by GBAO Strategies shows Betsy Dirksen Londrigan in a statistical tie with Congressman Rodney Davis, 47 - 48%, showing an increasingly tight race in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. At this time in 2018, Davis led the race by six points. Davis also held a six-point lead in the race at the beginning of this summer, but now Dirksen Londrigan has brought Davis’ support to under 50% and is in a position to overtake the vulnerable incumbent by November.
Donald Trump won the 13th District in 2016, but he now trails Vice President Biden 44 - 51%.
After coming within 1% of unseating Davis in 2018, support is growing for Dirksen Londrigan and her vision for Central Illinois — ensuring access to quality, affordable health care, protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
The poll was conducted by GBAO Strategies on behalf of the Dirksen Londrigan campaign among 500 likely voters between September 17-20, 2020. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.
* Meanwhile…
Today, Rodney Davis’ campaign for Congress released a new ad titled “Kathy,” which highlights Betsy Londrigan’s support for a government-run insurance plan that could force the closure of more than half of America’s rural hospital, including 39 in Illinois.
The ad features Kathy Fergin, who has been a nurse anesthetist in central Illinois for 25 years. Kathy discusses Betsy Londrigan’s support for a government-run insurance plan known as the Medicare X public option, which would have disastrous consequences for rural hospitals, according to two independent, non-partisan studies.
Research highlighted by the American Hospital Association found that the Londrigan-backed public option plan could force the closure of more than half of rural hospitals across the country, including up to 39, or half, of the rural hospitals in Illinois.
Additional research conducted on behalf of the AHA shows the Londrigan-backed plan would cut funding for hospitals across the country by nearly $800 billion over a 10-year period. The AHA says the plan “would result in the largest ever cut to hospitals” and “could have a significant impact on patient access to care.”
As Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller noted, “This congressional district has a huge number of major regional hospitals, likely the most in Illinois and perhaps one of the most in the country. Those hospitals are significant local employers and they also drive technological development. Not to mention that hospitals have been especially hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Rural hospitals in IL-13 include Carrollton, Jerseyville, Litchfield, Staunton, Carlinville, Hillsboro, Taylorville, Pana, Clinton and Monticello.
Londrigan announced her support for Medicare-X in 2018, but has since dodged questions on how the plan would decimate hospitals across the country.
Kathy: I’ve been a nurse anesthetist in central Illinois for 25 years.
Rural hospitals are vital to our families and our economy.
But Betsy Londrigan supports a government-run health insurance plan that could force more than half of America’s rural hospitals to close.
Here in Illinois, we could lose 39 hospitals.
Betsy Londrigan’s liberal policies would destroy jobs and jeopardize care.
…Adding… Londrigan response…
Health care is personal to Betsy Dirksen Londrigan and she is committed to protecting and building upon the Affordable Care Act, protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and working to lower prescription drug prices. Dirksen Londrigan is committed to ensuring access to quality, affordable health care while Congressman Rodney Davis is working tirelessly to tear down our health care system.
An ad released today by Congressman Davis is just another desperate attempt to divert attention from his numerous votes in Washington to gut health care protections for Central Illinois families. Here’s what Davis doesn’t want voters to know:
Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.
Davis repeatedly voted to support a lawsuit that could lead to the Supreme Court overturning the Affordable Care Act by the end of this year.
Davis’ actions would have rolled back funding for Medicaid Expansion and thus risk the closure of rural hospitals, including across Illinois. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would also strip health care coverage from millions, including more than 31,000 in Illinois’ 13th District alone, and remove protections from more than 282,500 13th District residents with pre-existing conditions.
“Betsy’s priorities have always been to strengthen and expand upon the Affordable Care Act and the essential health benefits that go along with it and lower the cost of prescription drugs,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. “Voters in Central Illinois won’t be fooled by Congressman Davis’ desperate attempts to distract from his 11 votes to repeal the ACA without a replacement, votes to gut protections for people with people with pre-existing conditions, and votes against lowering the cost of prescription drugs.”
Additional information on Davis’ disastrous health care record can be found at www.RodneyDavisTruth.com.
Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) laments Gov. J.B. Pritzker seems to have a one-track mind when it comes to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gov. Pritzker has a Chicago-centric view that impedes his ability to make decisions that make sense across Illinois,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal of the governor’s recent decision to extend his statewide stay-at-home order through the end of the month. “Our state is a very diversified entity. It is not surprising that people are upset with his one-size-fits-all policies that fail to respect the diversity of the state.” […]
“Oftentimes, governing requires nuance; Gov. Pritzker exhibits none,” she said.
Yes, because imposing the same set of rules and regulations for solo horseback riding and contact football would be such nuanced governing.
Also, stay classy.
* Meanwhile…
[Yesterday] morning, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer called into 560-AM’s morning drive program. During the discussion, host Dan Proft asked him about some of the divisive comments that IL Congressman Sean Casten has recently made. Emmer slammed Casten for his toxic demeanor and approach to politics (Listen to the clip here)
At the 11:15 min mark, Proft played a clip in which Casten was asked how he would work with a Republican Senate to get his legislation through. Casten’s response was, “We’ll throw in a provision that everyone gets a gun and we’ll say some mean things about gay people.”
Emmer responded by sharing his experience of serving with Casten on the House Financial Services Committee saying, “I’ve had first hand exposure to his arrogant, condescending, demeaning approach to politics. He’s not there building bridges… You want to know how smart Mr. Casten is? Just ask him. He’ll tell you. He has disdain for everyone. Ask Republicans and Democrats alike. He’s just the smartest guy in the room no matter what the issue is. And when he doesn’t have an argument, he slides into this really nasty, less than professional (as my dad would have said) very immature sense of humor.
Emmer went on to say, “When you run on the idea that you’re going to be a moderate problem solver, when you run on the idea that you’re going to reach across the aisle and work with other people, including the administration, and then your behavior is everything but that, it’s just the opposite, I think Illinois voters are going to remember that when they go to vote for Jeanne Ives in the next 43 days.”
* Moving right along…
Rep. Sean Casten released his second TV ad of the cycle today. The ad highlights Jeanne Ives’ support for Donald Trump and his destructive policies, and also features former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party Pat Brady.
This ad follows Rep. Casten’s first TV spot “Molecular” and is part of the $2.4 Million ad buy previously announced by the campaign.
SEAN CASTEN: “I’m Sean Casten, and I approve this message.”
NARRATOR: “Jeanne Ives on Donald Trump:”
JEANNE IVES: “I give him an A.”
NARRATOR: “An A?”
IVES: “Yeah, I give him an A.”
NARRATOR: “Trump and Ives would repeal the Affordable Care Act, replacing it with a plan that threatens health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Illinois families.”
PAT BRADY: “I’m Pat Brady, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and I know Jeanne Ives. She and Trump deny climate change and dangerously ignore the scientists fighting the coronavirus.”
