Candidate Q&A
Why are you running?
I’m running for Congress because I used to help foreign countries improve their legal systems, and now my country’s rule of law is under threat. I took an oath to defend the Constitution—an oath I’ve sworn three times: to become an attorney, a U.S. Army Reserve officer, and a federal civil servant. That oath is sacred to me. Today, our Constitution, our freedoms, and our democracy are under assault by a president who ignores the rule of law and a Congress that refuses to stand up to him. This campaign is to fulfill my oath.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing your constituents and how do you plan on addressing it?
The biggest challenge facing our country is the increasing cost of living. The legislative tools to address this problem are threatened by the administration’s ongoing dismantlement of the rule of law. My Trump Accountability Plan will ensure that we protect the institutional mechanisms necessary to lower the cost of living.
The expenses associated with pursuing the American Dream have risen out of reach for many Americans. The aggregate costs of housing, groceries, utilities, and childcare exceed a middle class budget. In addition, the administration has elected administrative procedures to reduce access to essential safety net programs, including Medicaid and SNAP, leaving the most vulnerable without recourse. All of the specific legislative fixes (that I discuss in detail on my website) to these challenges presuppose a functioning federal government, and that functioning status is imperiled by the executive branch’s aggressive campaign to undermine the rule of law and advance a concentration of executive power. Thus, in order to wield legislative tools, we must first secure the institutions that uphold our democracy in the face of an executive administration aspiring toward authoritarianism.
I’ve packaged my solutions in my ten-point Trump Accountability Plan. My plan has three parts: Article I - Exerting Congressional Power; Article II - Limiting Presidential Power; and Article III - Reforming the Supreme Court’s Power. Read the details at dantully.com/plan.
What is one unique challenge your district faces and how do you plan to address it?
One of the unique challenges in IL-08 is the disparity in water resources. In the Cook County and DuPage County parts of the district (about 75%) have water infrastructure that pulls from Lake Michigan. However, the Kane County part of the district (about 25%) relies on either the Fox River, which has dropping water levels, or nearly-depleted aquifers. I envision that the next U.S. Representative from this district should prioritize securing a federal grant for infrastructure to connect Kane County to Lake Michigan water.
What do you think federal immigration reform should look like?
Just like every other country, we need to have strong border security and immigration laws, and we’ll need to have a law enforcement agency to enforce those laws. But first we need new immigration laws including pathways to citizenship and to establish that the responsibility of enforcing those laws can no longer remain in the hands of an agency guilty of so many abuses. The current ICE/CPB apparatus is past the point of reform and must be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch in order to restore confidence.
How should Congress address the rising costs of health care?
Congress needs to address the fundamental problem of our country’s healthcare system. Specifically, for many people in this country, their healthcare is linked to their employment. If you lose your job, you lose your healthcare. When there are so many payors like private employers in the system, leverage is dispersed in negotiations with drug companies, insurance companies, and hospital companies. Those megacorporations effectively control access to healthcare and make decisions based on profitability rather than patient outcomes. Thus, the long-term solution to lower the cost of healthcare is to consolidate healthcare coverage into one responsible public payor that can offer universal healthcare care for all citizens. This would give the government leverage to bring down costs across the system, including for prescription drugs. Of course, while everyone in our country would be covered, we should also allow for commercial availability of private supplemental options for those who choose to also pay out-of-pocket. Another reason that giving everyone access to healthcare will lower costs is because preventive medicine is far cheaper than waiting to treat a health crisis.
What approach would you take on tax policy and what is your top priority?
For decades, the wealthiest among us have used tax loopholes to avoid paying income, payroll, capital gains, and local taxes. Before we ask a single social security recipient to make a sacrifice, we have to have a tax system that is fair. I would target several tax loopholes that have been opened up over the years by Congress that benefit the wealthiest corporations and families first to address a serious lack of revenue collection by the U.S. Since 2017, Trump has cut trillions of dollars in taxes without any requisite cuts in spending. Since the wealthiest and most profitable corporations on earth benefited the most during that stretch, they are going to bear the responsibility first of closing the budget deficit. Personal income rates for those making more than $400,000, new tax brackets at levels above $1,000,000 in annual income, estate taxes, increases in the corporate tax rate, and more are all on the table in the tax plan I would advance. Further, businesses have been benefiting from overly generous tax treatments for decades. A prime example is the fossil fuel industry. We do not need to subsidize established, wildly profitable businesses any longer.
Is the House currently using its oversight powers in the way it should be? What areas of government need more or less oversight?
The House is derelict in its oversight powers. One of the key areas of missing Congressional involvement is with respect to the President’s use of the military. Our only hope to stop this unchecked executive action is for Congress to reassert its Constitutional prerogative to declare war. Per my Trump Accountability Plan, Congress must finally repeal the 2001 AUMF that has served as the justification for military action in over 20 countries, strengthen the War Powers Resolution, and exercise oversight over Hegseth’s DOW. There can be reasonable debate about what “declare” means in the context of modern warfare. However, the general principle should be that no President should be able to initiate military action against a country without Congressional approval. We shouldn’t be thrown into a military conflict without the direct input of Congress and the constituents they represent. In addition, the War Powers Resolution should be strengthened to mandate earlier reporting. For instance, in advance of Trump’s abduction of Maduro, the administration informed oil executives but not Congress. Having served in Iraq, advised commanders in combat zones on matters of life and death, and advised four star commanders on legal decisions of strategic level national security consequences, I can credibly propose my plan to reinsert Congress into the war authorization process to serve as a check on this President’s imperial aspirations.
What is the most pressing foreign policy issue facing the country and what role should the House play in dealing with it?
I’ve focused much of my career on countering China’s influence, both in the military at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command as well as at the U.S. Department of Commerce as a civil servant. I’m familiar with both dangers and opportunities ahead, and we must pursue several goals. First, Congress must take steps to prevent war. I’ve been to war in Iraq, I’ve been involved in war simulations against China. No one actually wins in such a war. We must commit ourselves to resolving our differences peacefully. Second, Congress must invest in gaining a better understanding of China’s economy, politics, and culture. I earned an advanced degree in Chinese Law from China’s top university, and I recognize that China is much more complex than how it is portrayed by our political leaders. Third, Congress must find ways to keep human talent. Our economy relied on other countries sending their brightest minds to study at U.S. universities. However, this administration is increasingly hostile to immigrants, including the ones who came through legal methods. To preserve America’s competitive advantage, Congress must pursue comprehensive immigration reform, including pathways to stay in the U.S. with a legal status. However, these goals presuppose an American foreign policy featuring allies to help in countering China’s military influence. Yet this administration’s Trump First foreign policy has accomplished what none of our adversaries would have ever been able to do: unite our allies against us. As we lose our alliances, we lose our greatest strength and only hope of standing up effectively to China’s aggression.
How do you view AI and the role the government should play in its regulation?
Simultaneously the most dangerous and compelling technological invention, AI is ripe for responsible regulation. We must balance our embrace of innovation against caution worthy of such a threat. AI is unique among human inventions, as it has the potential for agency, such that it can act and make decisions of its own volition. We must take steps now to ensure that AI remains a tool and never becomes a master. Not only do we need responsible guardrails that keep humanity at the center of AI innovation, we also need to criminalize the use of AI by any government employee to fabricate public communications of any kind.
How would you describe the current state of your party and what changes or new approaches would you like to see your party adopt?
The American people are ready for a new political movement that puts them first, the Democrat Party must put forward new leaders who are able to meet the moment. Democrats must seize the opportunity to engage in “domestic diplomacy” – using the skillset of diplomacy that I used in Asia to reach out to swing and non-MAGA Republican voters. Specifically, we need to go to places with people that don’t often hear ideas from Democrats and then (1) listen, (2) seek understanding, and (3) share information – in that order. Here in Chicagoland, we live on an island of blue in a sea of red. Whoever wins this IL-08 seat has an obligation to venture out to downstate Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana to connect with people who might have voted a different way than we did in November 2024 but will be feeling the shared economic pain from the policies of this president. Rather than cast judgment, Democrat leaders need to extend an open, welcoming hand to those voters. Over time, through sustained effort, Democrats can break through the MAGA media blockade that currently separates us from those potential supporters in 2028.