CHICAGO – Illinois' 1st CD has been the center of election board attention running up to the March 2020 primaries – with four of the eight hoping to challenge 27 year incumbent Congressman Bobby Rush being tossed from the March 17 ballot.
Those challengers remaining on the 2020 Democrat primary ballot include Robert Emmons Jr., a Hyde Park resident and former community leader at the Obama Foundation, Ameena Matthews, a former gang member and daughter of Jeff Fort, founder of Chicago's El Rukn gang, and Sarah Gad, an Egyptian immigrant that served time in prison for attempting to pass a forged opioid prescription.
On the Republican ballot, while three others either were removed by the board of elections or withdrew voluntarily, only one GOP primary candidate in the 1st CD survived – Philanise White (pictured right).
White believes that the residents of the 1st Congressional District are long overdue for a representative in Congress who will work toward their interest and not the political posturing that has been on display for the past three years since President Trump as taken office.
“Everyone knows that Illinois’ problems began long before Donald Trump decided to run for Office,” White stated. “The incumbent has been in office for well over 25 years and in that time, the district has become increasing divided between the Haves and the Have-Nots. There is an increase in crime including shootings among gang members that have affected the lives of everyone within the inner-city communities within the 1st Congressional District; communities and Townships such as Englewood in Chicago, Posen, Robbins and Dixmoor in the South suburbs that are part of the District.”
"However bleak the current situation may appear under the Trump administration, one has to remember that it’s just smoke and mirrors from the Democrats trying to focus a failed economy, increase in criminal activities, high taxes and an exodus from the state as a result of Trump’s policies. Not true, simply not true,” White said in a press release.
Philanise White was elected in 2016 and currently serves as Chicago’s 7th Ward Republican Committeewoman. She promises when elected to give the voters of the 1st Congressional District, as her tagline suggests: "A New Choice ~ A Better Way."
White also served as Illinois’ Co-Director for Black Outreach and Engagement for the Trump/Pence 2016 campaign. She is an active advocate in the 7th ward which includes a small part of the 1st Congressional District. She serves as secretary of the Bessemer Park advisory board, and was instrumental in helping to get then neophyte alderman Greg Mitchell elected in 2016.
District 1 includes all or parts of Alsip, Blue Island, Calumet Park, Chicago's South Side, Country Club Hills, Crestwood, Dixmoor, Elwood, Evergreen Park, Frankfort, Frankfort Square, Harvey, Manhattan, Markham, Merrionette Park, Midlothian, Mokena, New Lenox, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Posen, Riverdale, Robbins, Tinley Park and Worth.
The Illinois primary is Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Philanise White may be contacted through her campaign website http://www.philaniseforcongress.com or follow her on Twitter at @Philaniseforco1.
