Nikki Budzinski, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois

Name: Nikki Budzinski

Political party: Democrat

Age as of June 28, 2022: 45

Campaign website or social media page: nikkiforcongress.com, twitter.com/Nikki4Congress and facebook.com/NikkiforCongress

Office seeking: Democratic nominee for U.S. representative, 13th Congressional District in Illinois

Are you an incumbent? No

Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought) No

Occupation: Consultant for Climate Jobs National Resource Center

Education: I am a proud University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumna. It would be an honor to have the opportunity to represent my alma mater in Congress! As president of the College Democrats, I met many lifelong friends at UIUC.

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: From an early age, my parents taught me the importance of civic engagement and of being involved. My mom served on the Peoria County Board and set the best example for good public service and government. My parents taught me the value of community involvement and the importance of public service. I’m proud to have spent my career in public service, trying to give back. I spent a decade working in the labor movement, first for the International Association of Fire Fighters to help first responders, who put their lives on the line for us every day, have the equipment, training and safe staffing they need to do their jobs. I also worked for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, making sure that retail workers and meat packers got a fair day’s pay, affordable healthcare and workplace protections at dangerous processing plants. Here in Illinois, I led the fight to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour, bringing together different stakeholders like the legislature, the business community and organized labor to get it done and help increase people’s paychecks. I also chaired the Broadband Advisory Council in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration and worked to jump-start Connect Illinois, a historic investment in high-speed internet access. And while serving as chief of staff at the Office of Management in the Biden Administration, I was proud to help establish the Made in America Office that helps to prioritize American manufacturing and American workers.

Who are your top three campaign contributors? I am very proud of the campaign I am running, including the strength and diversity of the grassroots support that I have received. My campaign has well over 5,000 individual contributions. We are running a grassroots-focused, people-powered campaign. I am especially grateful for the support I have received in the 13th District.

Why are you running? I’ve spent my career fighting for working families. From advocating for workplace protections for meat packers and grocery store workers to securing training and equipment for fire fighters, helping to lead the fight for a $15 minimum wage in Illinois and working to set up the Made in America Office, working families have always been my focus. I’m running for Congress because I want to help rebuild the middle class and fight for working families to keep more of what they earn.

What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? Fighting inflation is the most important issue in this campaign. People in central and southern Illinois are hurting right now, and they need immediate help to bring prices down and help them keep more of what they earn. There are short-term and long-term solutions to rising costs. Part of the reason we are here is an over-reliance on a broken supply chain because decades of Democrats and Republicans have outsourced American manufacturing to China. First and foremost, I support decreasing our reliance on China by increasing manufacturing right here in Illinois. We need to start making things in America again. In the short term, there are several measures we can take to help bring prices down. I applaud the state of Illinois for providing immediate gas tax and grocery tax relief for working families. In Congress, I would support the sale of a year-round E15 ethanol blend that would provide relief at the gas pump and support our family farmers. I also support middle-class tax cuts to help hard-working Illinoisans keep more of what they earn, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with prescription drug companies to lower costs, lowering out of pocket expenses by capping the cost of insulin at $35 and extending the child tax cut for working families struggling to make ends meet with children at home.

Why should people vote for you? I’m someone who’s focused on bringing people together to solve problems. I want to go to Congress to be a part of the solution and to get things done for working families in central and southern Illinois. I will work with Republicans, Independents and Democrats on commonsense issues that support the middle class, like investments in roads, bridges and waterways, high-speed internet access and strengthening manufacturing in Illinois to create good paying jobs. I will fight to help working families keep more of what they earn and bring people together to get that accomplished.

This story was originally published May 28, 2022 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Nikki Budzinski, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois."