IL-13: Nikki Budzinski (D)

REPLACING:

Rodney Davis (R)[i]

WORK HISTORY:

Office of Management & Budget (Chief of Staff); Budzinski & Partners LLC (President); IAFF Firefighters Union (Political Representative); UFCW (Associate Director of Legislative & Political Action Department); Office of the Illinois Governor (Senior Advisor for Labor Issues); Office of the Illinois Governor (Chair of Broadband Advisory Council); Hillary for America (Labor Outreach Director); Chris Dodd for President (Iowa Political Director)[ii] [iii]

EDUCATION:

BA, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

CAMPAIGNED ON:

Energy Prices; Middle Class Tax Relief & Inflation; Working Families; Health Care; Choice; Immigration; Environment & Climate Change; Housing: Education; Veterans; Taxes, Opioid Crisis; Criminal Justice Reform; Agriculture; Holding China Accountable; Democracy & Elections[iv]

ON THE ISSUES

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

Budzinski has said she is “100% pro-choice.” She has said that in Congress she would “fight to protect Roe v. Wade,” protect Planned Parenthood and similar organizations from efforts to defund abortion services and support the repeal of the Hyde Amendment.[v]

ECONOMY, JOBS & TAXES:

Budzinski has said she supports a $15 minimum wage, extending the child tax cut, creating job training programs, and instituting mandatory paid sick and medical leave.[vi] She has said she supports raising taxes on high earners, closing tax loopholes, and lowering taxes for the lower and middle classes.[vii]

HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL SAFETY NET:

Budzinski would “strengthen the ACA” and create a public option, allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for seniors, and expand Medicare coverage to include more services.[viii] She has also said she would fight to expand access to telehealth.[ix]

IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY:

Budzinski has said our immigration system is “badly broken and in need of reform.” She supports creating a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, farmworkers, and TPS holders, and has said she would “work toward” creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who pay taxes. She would also expand the H-2A and H-2B visa programs.[x]

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY:

Budzinski has said, “We don’t have to make a choice between safety and justice.” She would devote resources to targeting illegal guns, investing in community-based policing techniques, and addressing mental health issues among the population. She also supports bail reform and sentencing reform and would seek to stop the “over-policing” of minor offenses.[xi]

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS & ELECTION SECURITY:

Budzinski has said she would make it easier to vote by modernizing the Voting Rights Act, expanding early voting and absentee voting, and enacting automatic voter registration. She also supports “getting money out of politics” by overturning Citizens United and requiring disclosures of all large dollar donations.[xii]

EDUCATION:

Budzinski has supported various measures to expand early childhood education. At the college level, she would “find student debt relief solutions,” expand career and technical opportunities, and seek to make community college tuition free.[xiii]

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT:

Budzinski has said she would increase funding and protections for clean air and clean water. She has supported new investments in green energy technologies including offshore wind and solar.[xiv]

GUN SAFETY:

Budzinski has said she would devote increased resources to getting illegal guns off the streets.[xv]  She supports closing the “gun show loophole” and “working to ensure that law enforcement officers have adequate funding for more training and recruitment.”[xvi]

FOREIGN POLICY:

Budzinski has said she would seek to hold China “accountable” for its actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the country’s efforts to impede investigations of the pandemic’s origins. [xvii] On Ukraine, Budzinski has called Putin’s invasion “an affront to democracy” and said the US and NATO “need to stand together in opposition to this dangerous attack.”[xviii]