The city of Jacksonville is receiving a visit from a west central Illinois Congressman this afternoon just one week ahead of Election Day
Illinois’ 18th District Congressman Darin LaHood makes his way to Jacksonville for a lunch event this afternoon at Grandma Rudi’s. LaHood has been in office a little over three years after taking over for former Congressman Aaron Schock, currently awaiting trial for allegations of corruption, back in September 2015. In the general election in November of 2016, LaHood defeated Democratic candidate Junius Rodriguez, garnering more than 250-thousand, whereas Rodriguez received just over 96-thousand.
LaHood again finds himself running against Rodriguez in 2018. The Peoria-based Congressman says he isn’t taking this election lightly.
“Regardless of whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent, when you call our office, you’re going to get good constituent service. Whether you’re a veteran and you’re not getting your proper benefits or we can get you into school for retraining for a job. Maybe you’re a senior citizen that’s struggling with you social security or medicare or medicaid. Maybe you’re a small business and you’re dealing with the EPA or the Army Corps of Engineers or the Department of Ag, we’ve helped out with that. And on the other side, advocating for the district. Whether it’s for our farmers, our manufacturers. Whether it’s for the historic tax credit, which helps small communities like Jacksonville. We’ve been focused on bringing results, and again, advocating for the district,” says LaHood.
LaHood goes over some of the highlights of his time in office thus far, and says he hopes to continue building on those positives heading into 2019.
“Then lastly, voting the right way, trying to reflect the values of people that work hard, people that play by the rules, to represent their values of Washington getting out of the way. I think we’ve had a consisten voting record: tax reform, regulatory relief, looking at how we put America first, all of those things, I’m proud of our record on that,” LaHood says.
Congressman LaHood says that, while he hasn’t been in Washington D.C. in the last six weeks, he believes it’s vital that the House and Senate come together to pass the 2018 farm bill.