SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) – Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski is back on the campaign trail after her first two-year term in office.
“The two year cycle does force you to kind of constantly be in a little bit of a campaign mode. But it also does make you, I think, more accountable in some ways to your constituents,” Budzinski said.
She’s squaring off against republican candidate Joshua Loyd for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. He hasn’t ran for office before, but has worked on state and federal political campaigns.
“I see a void not being filled. I see elected representatives not helping constituents,” Loyd said.
Budzinski has made a point of highlighting bipartisan policies she has worked on during her first term. It a district as wide spread as the the Illinois 13th, she sees that as a necessity for proving her mettle. She has several big efforts the finish line, including bringing back millions in infrastructure funding for the district. She worked with Republicans on some of those projects to secure the money. But she has run into partisan gridlock that has defined the past two years in congress. As a member of the house agriculture committee, the two parties haven’t been able to agree on a farm bill.
“What actually moved out of our House Agriculture Committee under Republican leadership, unfortunately, I felt like was a very deeply partizan bill that played geographic favorites, meaning that the farm bill that they moved out of committee actually, I believe disproportionately impacted southern commodities like cotton, rice, peanuts,” Budzinski “We don’t grow a lot of that in the Midwest. We grow corn and soybeans. I want a farm bill that’s equitable, that’s going to support our family farmers.
For a second term, she says she wants to bridge that divide.
“I really try to prioritize bipartisanship and common sense solutions. And I have some real deliverables, whether it’s in Springfield, or the Monticello indicator and champagne and then all the way down to East Saint Louis.”
Loyd won his primary by a slim margin. The West Point Graduate said he got into the race after he had troubles getting into the U.S. office of Veteran’s Affairs and got little help from his area lawmakers in the process.
“When you’re having issues with a government agency, they always tell you to contact your congressman, contact your congresswoman, contact your senator. And that’s ultimately what I did. I reached out and I really couldn’t get any response from my elected officials,” Loyd said.
When asked what his main priorities are, he stuck to broad economic policies, saying he wants to advocate for less federal spending.
He also advocated for sending less money to international conflicts like Ukraine and Israel.”
“We really need to invest within our communities, not overseas, not in wars that don’t affect the U.S. market,” Loyd said.
When Budzinski first won the seat in 2022, she flipped the district from red to blue, and she has plenty of cash to try and hold that advantage for Democrats. FEC campaign finance data still does not show the quarterly reports from the last three months, but it shows the massive edge that Budzinski started with. As of June 30th, she had just over $2 million in her campaign account.
After a tough primary, Loyd ended June with just under $3,000.
The deadline for filing their latest quarterly report is October 15th. Once those reports are posted, this story will be updated with more recent fundraising data.
