2022 General Election Voter Guide

Candidate Q&A

Why are you running?

Hello, my name is Nikki Budzinski, and I am running to be the Representative from the 13th District in the U.S. Congress. I’m running for office so working people in Central and Southern Illinois have a voice in Congress. I’ve spent my career fighting for working families, and I want to do the same thing in Congress. We’ve got to bring people together to level the playing field and rebuild the middle class so families like ours have the opportunity to get ahead, stay ahead, and never look back. I know what it means to be middle-class and grow up in our communities. I was born in Peoria. We weren’t rich, but my parents taught us the importance of family, community, and service to others. My grandpa was a union painter, and I saw how unions built and sustained the middle class. My grandma was a public school teacher who taught me the value of a good education. That’s why I made her proud when I went to the University of Illinois Champaign. After graduating, I devoted my life to public service. I wanted to make sure every American had the same chance I did. After college, I traveled the country fighting to get hardworking people the pay and workplace safety conditions they deserve. I worked for the Firefighters’ union to help look out for our first responders who put their lives on the line for us every day, making sure they have the equipment, training, and health protections they need. As Governor JB Pritzker’s senior advisor on labor issues, I successfully led the charge to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. By bringing workers, small businesses, and elected officials to the negotiating table, I worked to make sure that all working families across Illinois can maintain a decent standard of living. In Congress, fighting inflation will be my number one priority on day one. Working people in Central and Southern Illinois are hurting, and they need relief right now. I will fight for a child tax cut for working families. I’ll fight for affordable college, affordable job training, and affordable child care. I’ll help working families get on their feet, get back to work, and get the type of good-paying middle-class jobs that used to be available to communities all over Downstate but are harder and harder to come by every year. I ask for your vote so I can fight for you and help you live the American dream like I have.

What does this office do well, and what needs fixing?

Our politics is broken. Washington has become increasingly polarized, leading to less bipartisanship and more gridlock and inaction. Too many of our political leaders no longer feel beholden to the citizens they are supposed to be representing in Congress, voting instead for special interests and putting party and power before people. Republicans in some states, rather than lose elections, are trying to weaken people’s right to vote and change the rules so they can stay in power even if they lose. We cannot fix Congress without fixing our elections. Attacks on voting rights and access to the ballot box have become widespread in recent years. Meanwhile, the flood of money unleashed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision a decade ago has corrupted our elections and drowned out the voices of ordinary Americans. We’ve got to make it easier to vote and get big money out of our politics.

Making It Easier to Vote:

— Restore and modernize the Voting Rights Act

— Improve access to the polls by expanding early voting and mail-in/absentee voting  

— Enact automatic voter registration Getting Big Money Out of Politics

— Get dark money out of politics by requiring disclosures for all large-dollar donations  

— Crack down on super PACs by overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision

In Congress, I will be a voice for fair and free elections, fighting to expand voting rights, make it easier to vote, reduce the influence of big money in our elections, and create an electoral system that serves everyone, not just a few.

What is the most pressing issue facing your constituents and how do you plan on addressing it?

Fighting inflation is the most important issue we are facing. Working people in Central and Southern Illinois are hurting, and they need relief right now. We need a leader in Congress who will fight every day to make sure working families are not getting left behind.There are some short-term solutions to inflation that Congress needs to act on today to provide immediate relief to working people. But ultimately, this is not a problem that occurred over night. Decades of Democrats and Republicans have contributed by allowing our jobs to be shipped overseas, exporting manufacturing from America to China, and allowing China to become the global economic leader that America used to be. In addition to short term measures, I support ideas that will increase American manufacturing so we can start to make things at home again.

Here is how we start:

— Repeal the Trump tax cuts that benefit the super-rich over working people  

— Extend the child tax cut for working families  

— Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices to lower prescription drug costs  

— Cap the cost of life-saving drugs like insulin at $35 

— Invest in union apprenticeship programs to promote alternatives to a 4-year college degree and a path to a debt-free, high-paying trades career  

— Support the Competes Act to bring manufacturing back to America and decrease inflation by relieving stress on global supply lines.

What specific steps would you take to ensure your office is accessible and responsive to your constituents?

Our district encompasses a large area and a large population, making accessibility and responsiveness a challenge, but one we will meet. We will ensure we have multiple offices throughout the district so that a constituent can easily come and talk to us. To help constituents once they arrive, we will invest in staff for constituency services. This way we will have the capacity to genuinely help our friends, neighbors, and even opponents. I intend to represent and help not only my supporters, but every person in the 13th district. Beyond in person capacity, we will hire online and social media staff to respond to direct messages, posts, tweets, emails, and any other way our constituents reach out to us. But we will go further and actively seek out our constituents to help them where they are. With the aid of social service agencies and other elected officials, we will invest in wellness visits, surveys, and phone calls. Our outreach does not end on election day; instead, it will increase exponentially. With our media presence and direct communication, we will be transparent about what we do, how we do it, and how our constituents can shape the day to day of our mission to help every American live the American dream.