Incumbent Jan Schakowsky, Challenger Seth Cohen Draw Sharp Contrasts In Candidate Forum

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“Congress has failed you in every facet of your life. Every time you walk out your door, every time you go to work, every time you drive home on the highway, every time you go out to eat with your family, Congress has failed you,” Cohen said.

Voters hold Congress in increasingly low regard as an institution, but they generally support their local reps, according to Gallup polling. Though 57 percent of respondents said they had “very little” confidence in Congress and 67 percent said most members of Congress do not deserve to be reelected, 55 percent said the U.S. representative in their district does deserve to be reelected.

The Republican newcomer noted that only two people have represented the district in the past 75 years.

“So I know for me asking you to vote for me is difficult. Perhaps you don’t know me, you don’t trust me, the ‘R’ next to my name turns you off because you think that I’m a partisan or an ideologue,” he said. “That is not the truth.”

The forum was co-sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters of Arlington Heights-Mt. Prospect-Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Glenview-Glencoe, Wilmette and Winnetka-Northfield-Kenilworth and hosted by the Evanston Public Library via video teleconferencing software.

The ideological divide between the longtime lawmaker and the recent University of Chicago graduate was on full display, with the two candidates agreeing on little other than the need to protect Lake Michigan’s water and send aid but not troops to Ukraine.

Schakowsky advocated for a “national way to vote,” warning of more than a million people being “purged from voting rights” in Texas and other states.

But Cohen contended that elections should be held at the state and local level, suggesting that centralizing elections in the federal government would be a massive mistake.

“Just like Republicans complain about voter fraud, Democrats complain about voting rights all over the country,” Cohen said.

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“We see in Georgia more Black Americans are voting than ever before. To think that there’s a voting rights problem in America is just wrong. It’s just a lie,” he said. “It’s there to scare you into doing X, Y and Z. Just like there’s no voter fraud, anyone who wants to vote, who’s an American citizen, can vote in our elections.”

Schakowsky said she supported federal legislation to protect access to abortions nationwide, while Cohen said the Supreme Court correctly considers abortion a state issue and suggested the justices would strike down anything Congress passed on the matter.

When asked what the federal government would do to provide high-quality education, Cohen called for shrinking the Department of Education and spending taxpayer money on private schools, explaining he does not believe the federal government “has anything to do with education.”

Meanwhile, Schakowsky said state governments should not be allowed to limiting what lessons teachers teach.

“I believe that we have to make sure that our public schools are available to all of our children [with] quality education where they can learn everything they need to learn, where they are not hamstrung by views that many books have to be taken off the shelf, or that they shouldn’t be taught about things that may be uncomfortable, like the Civil War or like Holocaust issues,” the congresswoman said.

As for taxes, Cohen said he supported a flat tax or small progressive tax of up to 12 percent with no deductions that could be filled out within 15 minutes. He acknowledged it would be difficult to get such a measure through Congress, which he blamed for tax loopholes that allow wealthy families and corporate officials to deduct taxes and game the system.

Schakowsky said she supported reversing tax cuts to the wealthy passed under President Donald Trump and raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour. (Chicago’s minimum wage is $16.20 per hour and the statewide hourly minimum is $14)

“We need to have a tax plan. We are not spending too much money,” Schakowsky said.

“This is the richest country in the world right now. We can absolutely afford to make sure that people have the funds that they need,” she said. “We need to make sure that ordinary people have the funds they need.”

Schakowsky was asked what Congress should do to reduce gun violence.

“You know, it’s simple, and we have figured it out in Illinois by passing a ban on assault weapons, that should be national,” she said. “The problem is because we have a ban on assault weapons, and this is supported by the majority of Americans.”

Cohen pointed out that the number of gun-owning parents exceeds the number of school shootings.

“Guns are not the problem. Guns are not the issue. It’s the Americans behind the guns,” Cohen said, suggesting that the solution to gun violence is a “healthier society.”

The candidates also shared contrasting visions of foreign policy.

Cohen said President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Congress failed Israel, which he described as “our greatest ally.” He said the military operations conducted by the Israeli military over the past year continue only due to a a lack of U.S. support.

“There could be peace in the Middle East, but only if the American government wholeheartedly supports their closest ally, who helps them fight terrorists all over the Middle East, to annihilate Hamas, to annihilate Hezbollah,” Cohen said. “This is the only way to get safety for the Palestinian people. This is the only way to get safety for the Lebanese people, is if Hamas and all the terrorists in the region are killed.”

Calling for a ceasefire and a “two-state solution” with justice for Palestinians and safety for Israeli, Schakowsky said she was “very disappointed” in Benjamin Netanyahu’s lack of efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

“What I’m looking at right now is that Netanyahu may actually be expanding the war, making it more than just Israel and Hamas,” she said, referencing the Israeli military’s invasion of Lebanon, which began Tuesday.

Both candidates supported sending continued military and financial aid to Ukraine to continue its war with Russia, and both opposed American boots on the ground.

“I definitely have Ukrainian blood running through my veins because that part of the Russian Empire was where my family came from, so I have a special feeling about that,” Schakowsky said, having noted earlier in the forum that her parents fled antisemitic oppression in the late 19th Century. “But it’s certainly not personal. It’s about the safety and consistency in the world and working with our allies.”

Cohen said his great-grandmother also immigrated from Russia.

“I do believe in immigrants coming to our country who want to participate in the American experience, the American dream, but not when it costs the taxpayer hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “Solving this crisis is not hard, as we saw in the previous administration, and it could be solved in this administration.”

Watch Full Video: 9th Congressional District League of Women Voters Forum

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