Trump, Biden to battle for southern Illinois voters
President Donald Trump is stumping in southern Illinois Saturday for Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., with former Vice President Joe Biden deployed to the 12th Congressional District Wednesday to headline a rally for Bost’s Democratic rival, Brendan Kelly.
Democrats need to flip 23 GOP seats to win control of the House, and the battle for this potentially pivotal seat is intensifying in the campaign’s closing days.
The Sun-Times has learned Biden also is on track to campaign for Democratic hopeful Lauren Underwood, running against Rep. Randy Hultgren in the 14th Congressional District, which includes some of Chicago’s northwest suburbs, as well as northern Illinois counties. The 14th is another Republican-held seat targeted by Democrats.
Trump’s rally is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro, with some drama remaining: Will embattled GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner meet with Trump, much less appear with the president on a stage?
The Sun-Times has also learned Republican National Committee Finance Chair Todd Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and Wilmette resident, will travel to Murphysboro with his family to greet the president. This gives rise to speculation that Ricketts, who sees Trump on a regular basis in Washington and at fundraising events, wants to raise his Illinois political public profile.
The Republican attorney general nominee, Erika Harold, told reporters Friday she won’t be there.
“We have previously scheduled activities in the suburbs — campaign activities — and so that’s what I’ll be doing,” she said.
In 2016, Trump won most of the counties in the 12th district, which takes in south and southwestern Illinois — but so did Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
An exception to Trump’s success in the district was the Democratic stronghold of St. Clair County, which includes East St. Louis, where Biden will preside over a get-out-the vote rally.
Kelly, the St. Clair County state’s attorney, needs a big Democratic vote in his home turf if he is to have any chance of beating Bost.
The Trump event likely will help drive turnout in deeply Republican precincts, so the benefit to Bost is more obvious.
For Rauner and Harold, appearing with Trump would come at the potential cost of alienating moderate Republicans and swing voters in the Chicago area who don’t like Trump and his divisive tactics.
The Biden event at Iron Workers Local 392 includes Kelly and the top of the Democratic ticket: gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker and his running mate, Juliana Stratton; attorney general nominee Kwame Raoul; state Treasurer Mike Frerichs; and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.
Bustos’ 17th Congressional District takes in parts of central and northwestern Illinois. She is the rare Democrat who won in a district that also went for Trump.
The latest New York Times/Siena College poll shows Bost leading Kelly 48 percent to 39 percent. The Cook Political Report listed the district as leaning Republican.