Dave Koehler (D-IL) Can Take Back A Seat That Should Never Have Gone Red In The First Place

Progressive Democrat Phil Hare won the western Illinois 17th district congressional seat after longtime incumbent Lane Evans retired in 2006. Hare won with 114,638 votes (57%) and he was a solid legislator. He was also one of the few progressives to lose his seat in the teabag tsunami in 2010. (In 2008 Obama took the district with 56% and Hare was reelected without the Republicans even running a candidate against him!) The deadly 2010 midterm saw Hare's share of the votes sink to an abysmal 43% (85,454 votes). Democrats just stayed home. Bobby Schilling won the seat and, predictably, has been a garden variety, undistinguished backbencher. The Illinois legislator just lopped off a couple of Republican parts of the district and made it bluer than ever. It's almost beyond reason to think he'll be reelected next year.

So, whomever wins the Democratic primary in a couple of months is probably going to be the next congressman for the district. Last time I checked there were 5 candidates running for the nomination. The two front-runners are state Senator Dave Koehler, a solid progressive, and Cheri Bustos, a more conservative, more "business-oriented" Democrat. People looking for actual change in Washington are looking for Koehler. And we don't have to worry about him abandoning his progressive principles when he gets to Congress. He's already proven himself willing to lead on our issues in the state legislature.
 
Dave's roots are in organized labor and grassroots action. He got his start as a United Church of Christ minister and community organizer working under Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Worker Ministry. He moved to Peoria in 1978 to work at the Peoria Friendship House and then became the first director of the Peoria Area Labor Management Council, whose mission is to stabilize labor-management relations by strengthening the collective bargaining process. 
 
It gets better: Dave was the main Senate sponsor of the Illinois civil unions legislation that passed this year. While it's not marriage, it's a strong first step in the right direction. And as an ordained minister, Dave has a unique voice to lend in the fight for marriage equality.
 
Meanwhile, Schilling voted to end Medicare and adamantly refuses to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. He backs continuing the discrimination of DOMA. He’s a rock-solid vote for John Boehner, and that just won’t fly in the new 17th-- home to Caterpillar, John Deere, and around 100,000 members and retirees of organized labor.
 
The important thing is that we get a progressive candidate through the primary on March 20. Dave Koehler is that candidate and if you can, please consider giving him some support here.


UPDATE: Durbin Works His Magic

In national and senatorial politics Dick Durbin comes across as a stalwart progressive. In the grubby world of Illinois Democratic politics, he's a grotesque party boss. And today he forced progressive state Senator Dave Koehler-- by the way, the first federal candidate endorsed by the AFL-CIO anywhere in the nation this cycle-- out of his congressional race. The corrupt Democratic Party Establishment wants one of their own, Cheri Butros, in their rotten little club. The state AFL-CIO is flipping out and they're telling people the DCCC was as much to blame as Durbin.