HAMPTON, Illinois---The Rock Island County Democrats hosted their 50th annual Salute to Labor Picnic Monday, September 4.
Democratic candidates looking to take Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s seat next year, used the Labor Day event to address middle class Illinoisans.
“My goal for today was to congratulate the people here and doing something to celebrate labor, other than to take the day off,” says candidate Chris Kennedy.
Illiniwek Campgrounds was the last stop for gubernatorial candidate J.B. Prizker on his six-day tour through southern and central Illinois, which focused on ways to create job growth down state.
“We’ve got a 5 point jobs creation plan and we’ve talked about it across the state and listened. What we’ve heard is we really need to focus on infrastructure in this state,” says Pritzker.
Illinois Senator, Daniel Biss used the opportunity to connect with potential supporters to talk about the recently passed school funding bill.
“I voted against the bill… because it included a voucher program, 75 million dollars… tax dollars… being sent to private schools. I thought that was a really dangerous idea,” says Biss.
He also called for a tax reform relying less on property taxes and more on taxing the wealthy to help fund Illinois schools.
Bob Daiber, Madison County Regional Superintendent of Schools addressed the picnic crowd energetically, calling for an increase in minimum wage, like his opponents.
“We’re going to make Illinois a state of leadership, a state in which people want to… move back to Illinois because it’s in this state where you can earn a good wage,” says Daiber.
Democratic and Republican primary elections are on March 20, 2018. Illinois gubernatorial elections will take place on November 6, 2018.