Congressman Randy Hultgren is running for re-election as the Republican candidate for the Illinois 14th district. On Monday, October 15th, he visited PRHS and spoke with students about his work while in office and what he plans to do if he is re-elected.

Hultgren, 52, was first elected to represent the Illinois 14th district back in 2011, yet he has spent more than 20 years serving the citizens of Illinois. In the Illinois General Assembly, he held the 48th district Senate seat from 2007 to 2011.

While speaking to the students,  Hultgren indicated that he has committed himself to real health care reform and pro-growth policies that will put Americans back to work.  He also has been a strong proponent for prosperity, free enterprise, and a smaller government.

Hultgren’s main points also included supporting human rights and ending human trafficking. He relayed a time when a woman from Exodus Cry, a group that exists to break the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation and help those who have been sold for sex, complained about the “blight of human trafficking and how there are more people enslaved today than when Abraham Lincoln was president.” Hultgren passionately expressed how he has worked with both the House and Senate, and with Republicans and Democrats alike, to pass stronger laws against human trafficking.  He believes that this is a problem that everyone can agree on and “we can no longer stand by knowing this is happening.”

Hultgren also highlighted his plan for prison and drug reform to help protect people struggling with “this sickness of addiction.”  He proposes that money be allocated to “help addicts get treated instead of putting them in jail with no treatment or help to fixing their problem but still costing taxpayers millions of dollars to sit in jail only to likely be released into the same sort of drug induced environment.”

Throughout his speech, Hultgren acknowledged the great divide between government parties, and he spoke on how he has worked with multiple colleagues from both sides to merge this separation and to find common ground.

Sophia Pascente, a senior AP Government student, said she had read about his passing of a bipartisan bill that supported reuniting immigrant children with their families and asked, “Do you have any other examples of finding that middle ground between the parties during your time in office?”  

Hultgren responded with talking about how he has tried to bind the polarized gap between the Republican and Democrats and despite difficulties, he is proud of the work they have been able to accomplish when they do work together. He stated that he has worked with members of both parties on not only ending the separation of immigrant families, but also with his plans for stopping human trafficking and supporting prison and drug reform, expressing that “we need democrats and republicans voting together to be able to pass legislation and execute change.”

Hultgren concluded his time with the students by saying, “these last few years have been an incredible privilege. I want to serve for another two years because I feel that we have started some important things that I want to finish.”

Democratic candidate Lauren Underwood and incumbent Congressman Randy Hultgren will be facing off on November 6th.  As voting day nears, it is a race worth following.

Here are highlights from last week’s visit from Lauren Underwood.

State Senator Pamela Althoff will be visiting PRHS on Wednesday, October 24th.