State Fair photos by Liz Eilers Bron
SPRINGFIELD – At the State Fair Thursday, two Republicans announced their intentions to unseat incumbent Democrat US Senate Dick Durbin in 2020 – Downstate conservative Peggy Hubbard and former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran. Both Hubbard and Curran addressed IL GOP officials Thursday morning.
Hubbard, who has not run for an elected office before, said if elected to the US Senate, she would fight for tax relief for working families, residents, and seniors living on a fixed income. She would also work to provide opportunity by building up struggling and forgotten communities in Illinois.
Peggy Hubbard at State Fair Thursday – Photo Liz Eilers Bron
"Illinoisans are taxed to death, and career politicians like Dick Durbin are so focused on their politics that they forget our communities. He continues to put his political agenda in front of our people in Illinois, and I'm not going to let that happen anymore," Hubbard said. "Our people in Illinois need a fighter who will take on the Washington elite and demand a seat at the table for regular people like us."
Hubbard took positions on several key issues in her brief comments. "I'll advocate for the dignity and protection of all human life, not just for the unborn, but the victims of opioid abuse, those who fall between the cracks of the system, and all other vulnerable folks in our state. I'll defend our Second Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights. To me, this isn't about hunting or a high-minded Constitutional debate. It's about making sure a single mother living in the projects, surrounded by gang bangers, can defend herself and her family."
See video link below when Hubbard asks the IL GOP officials, "Are we gladiators? Or are we b*****s?"
Former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran focused his comments on Dick Durbin.
Former Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson with Mark Curran posted on Facebook
“Dick Durbin is part of the status quo that has led our great country and our hard working families to the brink of bankruptcy due to record federal government spending, record federal government borrowing and record federal government debt with no end in sight. We can’t change Washington until we change the people in Washington, so I say that we need to enforce our own term limits,” said Curran. “Anyone who has been in Washington DC for more than 12 years needs to be sent home. If they haven’t solved our major problems in 12 years, that means they are part of the problem — and Dick Durbin has been receiving government paychecks for over 50 years with 38 of those years spent in Congress by the end of his current term.”
Prior to his service as the elected Lake County Sheriff from 2006 through 2018, Mark Curran served as a Senior Prosecutor with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office, as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and as a Deputy Illinois Attorney General designated as the Gang Crime Bureau Chief.
“Given the current toxic partisan climate of both government and politics in the United States, many people I spoke to about my intentions asked me ‘Why on earth would you put yourself through that ?’ The answer is simple. It is because our Federal government is a gridlocked cesspool of career politicians controlled by special interests that I felt the need to be part of the solution,” Curran said. “We keep returning these career politicians to Washington DC who have no vision of a better America. Their only interest is to tinker around the edges of fundamental major problems so that they appear to be doing just enough to get them past their next election."
The next IL GOP Primary will be held in March 2020.
Hubbard's comments are available on Facebook HERE
Curran's comments are available on Facebook HERE
