On Saturday February 17, Saint Xavier University’s History and Political Science Department hosted a Democratic Candidate Open Forum moderated by Scott Smith, who hosts the South Side podcast “The Frunchroom.”
The forum served as a way to help inform voters about Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District and Cook County Assessor races.
Present at the forum was Fritz Kaegi, candidate for Cook County Assessor, and Marie Newman, candidate for Congress.
Newman was born in Beverley and raised in Palos Park; today, she lives in LaGrange.
According to her website, Newman has served as a consultant “for a diverse array of firms: from Fortune 1000 companies like Humana, Discover Card and Advocate Healthcare as well as small businesses and tech startups” for over ten years.
Newman also created the Team Up to Stop Bullying organization, which hosts “a coalition of 70 nonprofits dedicated to anti-bullying solutions.”
As a candidate, Newman has participated in over 90 “coffee issue sessions.” She has spent time reaching out for volunteers rather than party members.
Newman uses this to express her desire to promote her ideas of putting families and small businesses first. Newman will be running against incumbent Dan Lipinski, who was not present at the forum. Newman claims Lipinski is running a “monarch” because his father held the seat for 20 years, and now he himself has held it for 12 years. Newman’s talk at Saint Xavier promoted the ideas of putting families first as a way of helping communities.
“Today, I’m here to tell you why I’m running, and why it’s important that we win this race together,” Newman said on Saturday.
“There are important issues at stake: working families are being mistreated every single day.”
Newman is a strong proponent for the $15 minimum wage, an advocate for unions, and a firm believer in universal healthcare.
At the forum, Newman also addressed the DREAMers, saying, “We are all immigrants…and we all belong here. We all deserve a path to citizenship and we should all be treated fairly.”
“I support a clean DREAM act and keeping the families together,” Newman continued, “Family reunification is very important to me. We must keep the families together.”
On the topic of immigration, Newman also indicated that she supports the welcoming of refugees to America.
Newman also stated that she would like to create an education system that leads to more jobs, a system that would call for ending the practice of issuing standardized tests.
“We do not need standardized core tests every year,” Newman said, “it’s bad for teachers, and it’s bad for students. Secondly, we have to bring vocational trade skills back into our sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes, and in high schools as well.”
Newman’s next event will be on Saturday, March 3 at 11am.
She will be present at the Starbucks located at 1933 W. 103rd St., Chicago for the Beverly Canvassing Weekend.
Illinois Primaries will be held on March 20th. Newman and Lipinski will run against Republican Candidate Arthur Jones and Independent Candidate Mat Tomkowiak.
For more information on Marie Newman, visit her website https://www.marienewmanforcongress.com/
Cheyanne Daniels
News Editor