Where do IL House 114th District candidates Greenwood and Schmidt stand on the issues?

The race for Illinois State House of Representatives 114th District in the metro-east features the incumbent, Rep. Kevin Schmidt, R-Millstadt, against the previous incumbent, LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis.

Greenwood and Schmidt each completed a candidate questionnaire from the Belleville News-Democrat. To see responses from candidates across the metro-east, go to this page at bnd.com.

Here are the responses from Greenwood and Schmidt, listed in alphabetical order:

NAME: LATOYA GREENWOOD

Political party: Democratic

Age as of Nov. 5, 2024: 50

Office seeking: State Representative 114th District

Are you an incumbent? No

Campaign website or social media page: latoyagreenwood.com

Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought.) State Central Committeewoman 13th Congressional District – Currently serving IL State Representative 114th District 2016-2022 East St. Louis City Councilwoman – 2011-2017

Occupation: Executive director of human resources, East St Louis School District 189

Education: Althoff Catholic High School; Michigan State University – Bachelor of Arts; Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville – Master of Public Administration

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: Board member & treasurer – Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership Training Academy

Member – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. - Delta Delta Omega Chapter

Member – Unity Lutheran Church

Member - Top Ladies of Distinction Inc.- East St. Louis Chapter

Member - Links Inc. - Gateway (IL) Chapter

Lifetime Member – NAACP, East St. Louis Branch #3013

Who are your top three campaign contributors? For the most current information, you can find a list of all campaign donations on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Why are you running? I believe that the 114th District deserves someone who listens to constituents and works to move our communities forward. We do that by creating equity, opportunity and access for all the constituents within this district. I want to focus on issues specifically centered on job growth, education funding, access to quality health care and infrastructure. When I served as state representative for this district, I worked on and voted for budgets that invested in our local communities. I wrote and passed legislation that impacted the lives of our community members, and I want to continue to create opportunities to put money back in the pocket of everyday Illinoisans.

What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? There are multiple issues that are priority issues in our district. Our economy; how do we uplift our communities and the people in this district? I will fight to crack down on corporate price-gouging on essential medication and work to ban hidden “junk fees” that companies add on to goods and services.

Infrastructure continues to be a recurrent theme as I am going door to door and meeting constituents. While our area has received millions of dollars in Rebuild Illinois funding and jobs have been created, there is still more work to do. I will fight for the funding needed to continue to expand our infrastructure and ensure that funds are released for our communities. I am proud of the work I have done is assisting communities like Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis by allocating money to go towards the decade’s long sewer systems problems, but there is more money needed to properly fix our sewer systems throughout the 114th District to ensure that no family is dealing with constant uncertainty when we have a rainy season or inclement weather.

Also, the issue of equity for women not only in the 114th District, but around our state. I will continue to fight for working women and lifting women and families up by fighting for equal pay, paid family leave and sick leave, making childcare more affordable, and ending workplace sexual harassment. I will protect women’s reproductive rights by funding reproductive health initiatives, working to strengthen access to birth control, fertility treatment and maternity care.

Why should people vote for you? I have lived in the 114th District all my life, this is my home. I have the experience, the temperament and the leadership skills to bring this district together and move us forward. I plan to work tirelessly to bring resources to our district. I understand that most of us within this district are facing some serious financial challenges and I will be a strong advocate for building stronger communities through improving economic opportunities, providing quality and equitable education for all children, and ensuring public safety for residents.

I understand the importance of our state budget and the negative implications for our district when we do not have proper representation in that process. I understand that we make progress by listening to one another and when there is a need for legislative change, I will work to ensure that legislative action will happen. As the former state representative, I am proud of my legislative record. I am proud of the funding I have allocated to local communities, school districts, community organizations, our state parks and local churches. I look forward to proudly and fiercely serving the people of this district and moving us forward, not backward.

What will you do to improve the lives of residents in your district? As the former state representative, I worked to create and fund programs like the Sweet Potato Patch, which was a program that supported pregnant women with healthy, balanced meals. This was to ensure that they were able to maintain a health pregnancy for the mother and child. Also, I have supported the expansion of Career and Technical Education funding for our local school districts, expanding the opportunities and options for our children to have stable careers. I supported the Rebuild Illinois funding, which has created thousands of jobs and produced millions of dollars in infrastructure funding for the metro-east region.

I will continue to listen to the constituents and provide results, not excuses. I look forward to continuing my record of investing in uplifting the constituents in this district.

Explain the types of policies you support to improve the state’s economy. Illinois needs to make smart investments in infrastructure and innovation that will foster economic growth and create new high-wage jobs. I supported the funding for the SWIC Manufacturing Training Academy, the new facility that is offering training in industrial electricity, welding and EV technologies, and other programs to create career pathways for our young people. I funded the Workforce Equity Initiative Grant at SWIC, which offered tuition-free courses that lead qualified applicants to employment in high-demand career fields with industry standard wages. Also, I strongly supported the Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan, which is investing $45 billion in roads, bridges, railroads, universities, early childhood centers, and other facilities – creating and supporting 540,000 jobs. In my time as state representative, I am proud to have voted for balanced budgets in the state of Illinois. Our credit rating as a state has increased because my colleagues and I have worked to right our fiscal house. By getting our finances in order, the state can better invest in our communities and promote real and sustained economic growth.

What is your stance on the issue of abortion in Illinois? Politicians should not be making women’s medical decisions for them. I trust women and their doctors to make their own health care decisions regarding reproductive health care, birth control, fertility treatment and maternity care.

What policies should the state follow regarding the issue of immigration? Immigration is a federal issue that should be handled by the federal government. However, when the U.S. Congress fails to act and governors of other states choose to use people’s lives as part of their political stunts, then the state of Illinois must do what it can to ensure communities have the resources to manage the situation properly. However, Illinois should always prioritize the needs of residents, particularly in underserved parts of the state, like southern Illinois and the metro-east.

NAME: KEVIN SCHMIDT

Political party: Republican

Age as of Nov. 5, 2024: 42

Office seeking: State Representative 114th District

Are you an incumbent? Yes

Campaign website or social media page: Schmidtforil.com

Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought.) I previously ran for state representative in 2020 and in 2022.

Occupation: Chiropractor

Education: Attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and received his Doctor of Chiropractic and Bachelor of Science in human biology at Logan University in Chesterfield, MO.

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: I ran for state representative in 2020. I am involved in the St. Clair County Republican party as a precinct committeeman. I am past president of the Jaycees and Millstadt Optimist Club. I am also a member of the Millstadt Chamber of Commerce, and I am a Shriner and a member of the Masons.

Who are your top three campaign contributors? My top three donors are Local 150, the Illinois Chiropractic Association and the Fraternal Order of Police.

Why are you running? I am running for re-election because we can’t afford to go backward in Illinois. We need more reform-minded legislators like me who will oppose the policies that are leading to higher taxes, more business regulations and population loss. How can we justify these expenses when communities like Cahokia Heights are still waiting for funds to complete much-needed sewer repairs? We are in a mess financially in our state because too many legislators in the majority party in the House and the Senate are fine with giving themselves pay raises and spending money on people here illegally at the expense of working people in districts like the 114th. The only way we can change the culture in Springfield is to change leadership and the only way to do that is to elect more - not fewer - reform-minded legislators like me. Voters recognized we needed a change in leadership in 2022 and I am confident they will send me back to Springfield to keep fighting for them.

What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? When I go door to door, I frequently hear about inflation, crime, illegal immigration, corruption and taxes.

The best thing we can do in Illinois to fight inflation would be to lower taxes and the only way to lower taxes is to reduce spending. I voted against the budget because it allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to programs for illegal immigrants, gave pay raises to legislators and increased spending rather than reducing it.

Unfortunately, the majority party pushed through the governor’s outrageous budget. While families are hurting, lawmakers are getting a pay raise. I am continuing to sound the alarm about the impact of these bad policies, and I also am trying to do what I can at the local level to mitigate the impact of these policies by giving away the pay raise I received to local charities. Helping local people in need is a much better use of these funds than keeping it.

Why should people vote for you? I ran on a platform of standing up to corruption, supporting policies that will grow our economy and making our communities safer, and I have kept my commitment to the voters of the 114th District.

The voters I talk to are tired of high taxes. They are tired of seeing their money go to pay for programs for people not even legally allowed to be in this country. They are tired of lawmakers helping themselves to pay raises every single year. They understand the leaders of our state are running it into the ground and they know we need different leaders. If voters want to see these changes made, then they need to re-elect me and also help elect other reform-minded legislators in other districts.

What will you do to improve the lives of residents in your district? Policy matters. We are in a mess financially in Illinois because the majority party refuses to make the tough decisions to reduce spending. This past spring, three people – Governor J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Chris Welch, and Senate President Don Harmon – decided how to spend $54 billion.

How is this right? Why are we letting three people decide the state budget for the entire state? Rank and file Democrats did not even know what was in the budget until the day it came up for a vote. What is happening in our state is wrong.

I voted against the budget because I could not support the lack of transparency in the budget process, nor could I support the reckless spending contained in the massive $54 billion spending plan.

I will continue to push for a fiscally responsible budget. I will also continue to fight for tax relief. Last spring, I co-sponsored a measure aimed at preventing large scale property increases (HB 4712).

Another bill I co-sponsored was a measure to reinstate cash bail (HB 4052) as well as numerous other bills to enhance the penalties for sex abusers and other offenders.

Finally, I have and will continue to work with local leaders to secure the grant funds promised to communities in the 114th District. It boggles my mind that communities in the 114th District can’t get the money the state has promised while at the same time we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for people who are not even legally supposed to be here.

My agenda for the 114th District is simple. I want to put more money in the pockets of my constituents by lowering taxes and I want to ensure their safety by keeping criminals off the streets.

Explain the types of policies you support to improve the state’s economy. First, we need to reduce spending so that we can lower taxes. Illinois needs a forensic audit to look at how we are spending tax dollars and to eliminate duplicative services.

I also support reducing business regulation as a way of attracting more jobs and opportunities. Another way we can attract more jobs is to repeal the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. Illinois has historically had a strong manufacturing base in part because energy costs here were low. At one time, the cost of electricity for commercial properties was 9 percent lower than the national average, which is a significant savings for manufacturers. Unfortunately, CEJA is changing that. Now businesses are faced with higher taxes, burdensome regulations and higher energy costs. We need to repeal CEJA and lower the cost of electricity in our state.

Finally, we need to look at what is working economically in states like Indiana and Florida and implement some of those policies. The blueprint for success is there. We just need the political will to get it done.

What is your stance on the issue of abortion in Illinois? I am pro-life. I am pushing to reinstate the parental consent law. Our state clearly is attracting unaccompanied minors from surrounding states. We require parental consent for things like getting your ears pierced. Parents should know if their minor child is seeking an abortion. We must reinstate parental consent.

What policies should the state follow regarding the issue of immigration? The Democrats in Springfield raised taxes by $750 million while at the same time funding $622 million for illegal immigrants. The message to the people in my district is clear. The out of touch elites in Springfield care more about people who are not even legally supposed to be here than they do about the citizens of this state. They are adopting policies that will hurt our communities while spending three times what we spend on veterans’ programs for illegal immigrants. This is wrong.

Immigration is a federal issue – not a state issue. We need to stop taking these immigrants in our state and we need to put pressure on the federal government to do its job. We can’t solve this issue, and we need to stop trying. Let’s focus instead on the issues and challenges facing Illinois citizens.

This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 10:11 AM.