Democrats running for Roskam’s seat put a big focus on health care

March 16--Most of the leading Democrats in the crowded field running to take on veteran Republican lawmaker Peter Roskam of Wheaton have made personal health crises central to their campaigns, seizing his longtime opposition to the Affordable Care Act in what they see as a rare shot at flipping a suburban district that has long favored the GOP.

Kelly Mazeski of Barrington Hills, 58, survived breast cancer, and her adult daughter has a pacemaker because of a neurological condition. Carole Cheney of Naperville, 57, had neck surgery in 2012 and said she was unable to work for a year and a half and "lost her life savings." Amanda Howland of Lake Zurich, 65, learned she had kidney cancer two years ago and had one removed during treatment.

And while clean energy entrepreneur Sean Casten, 46, hasn't run on his personal health, he's lent his campaign $630,000, giving him cash to pay for TV ads to get his name before voters and criticize President Donald Trump. Mazeski has lent herself nearly $300,000.

Howland lost to Roskam in 2016, when the district went for Democrat Hillary Clinton by 7 percentage points after going for Republican Mitt Romney by 8 points in 2012. That shift has given Democrats some hope in the western and northwest suburban 6th Congressional District, despite Roskam's history of big wins in his 11-year congressional career.

But first, one of the Democrats has to emerge from a seven-candidate primary. The size of the field means the winner won't have to capture much of the vote to prevail.

"It's hard to say who the front-runner is," said Melissa Mouritsen, an assistant professor of political science at the College of DuPage in the district.

The top Democrats in the race largely hold similar views on the issues, and most haven't held elected office. Each, though, has a background she or he hopes will stand out.

Cheney was a former top aide to Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville. Howland has campaign infrastructure in place from her last run and is an elected College of Lake County trustee. As a business owner, Casten could appeal to more conservative Democrats. And Mazeski has held appointed government posts in the suburbs.

Also in the mix: Naperville City Councilwoman and bookstore owner Becky Anderson Wilkins, attorney Jennifer Zordani and data analyst Ryan Huffman.

Casten's campaign stresses stopping Trump and climate change deniers he said "have declared war on our environment." He has the backing of environmentalists, scientists and academics and some suburban officials, including Katie McGinty, an environmental official for former President Bill Clinton.

Howland has picked up endorsements from state Rep. Will Guzzardi of Chicago, Indivisible Elgin, and the Sheet Metal Workers Local 73 and Northwest Suburban Teachers Union Local 1211.

Cheney is a former partner at the Kirkland & Ellis law firm and was Foster's district director. She's won endorsements from him, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson and two newspapers.

Mazeski has attracted endorsements from EMILY's List, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Cheri Bustos of Moline and the Feminist Majority PAC. She lost a state Senate race in 2016.

Even though the Democrats have had to work hard to get noticed amid the feisty statewide races for Illinois governor and attorney general, the 6th District primary has been relatively civil. Numerous candidate forums have drawn hundreds of people shopping for a candidate. One difference is that only Howland and Huffman support a single-payer, taxpayer-supported health care system.

"The candidates are aligned on abortion, climate change, guns (control)," said Reid McCollum, one of the leaders of the Coalition for a Better Illinois 6, an umbrella organization of 24 Democratic groups. The coalition is neutral in the primary.

The state's 6th Congressional District is one of two in the Chicago suburbs and 77 nationally that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats' campaign arm, has designed as a Majority Maker district, meaning it's viewed as competitive as the party tries to retake the House.

But the DCCC isn't playing favorites in this bumper crop of candidates, said Jacob Peters, a committee spokesman. Nor is the group backing a Democrat in a neighboring suburban district, the 14th. There's also a seven-way Democratic primary underway there, in an effort to defeat Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano.

Neither Roskam, 56, nor Hultgren, 52, has a primary rival. They trounced their 2016 general election opponents by nearly the same percentage: more than 59 percent of the vote for the Republicans to almost 41 percent for Howland and Hultgren challenger and Gurnee salesman Jim Walz, 55.

Walz, too, is in the primary race again, but other strong candidates have emerged.

Lauren Underwood of Naperville is a nurse and former Health and Human Services official under President Barack Obama. Matthew Brolley, 36, is a civil engineer and the village president of Montgomery.

Underwood, 31, leads the Democratic field in the 14th in fundraising and has endorsements from EMILY's List and the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee. Brolley has endorsements from Reps. Foster and Schakowsky, the Illinois AFL-CIO and other labor groups.

The 14th is a mix of suburban, rural and exurban turf, running from the Wisconsin border and wrapping around Chicago's collar counties including parts of DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

Also running in the 14th: high school teacher Victor Swanson of Batavia and retired chemical engineer George Weber of Lakewood, who has called his candidacy a "long shot."

Two other candidates haven't filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission: John Hosta of Spring Grove, who lost a three-way primary to Walz in 2016, and Daniel Roldan-Johnson of Volo. Reports are required when a candidate raises or spends $5,000.

kskiba@chicagotribune.com

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