Lawyer Ken Thomas of Chicago is the better of two able candidates in this lakefront Democratic primary, and we endorse him.
For the most part, Thomas offers buttoned-down, sensible answers to issues facing the district. He has worked to defend the rights of tenants who are evicted, working pro bono for the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing. As a legislator, he says, he would continue to work to protect tenant rights.
Thomas would, for example, push a bill requiring that all court proceedings in evictions be documented by a stenographer or electronic recording device, so as to better safeguard a litigant’s right to appeal any mistakes at the trial level.
Thomas’ other priorities include working on the problem of unemployment among young people and closing legal loopholes to make it harder for criminals to get guns. He supports a graduated income tax, like most Democrats, and wants new revenue from that tax to be put toward paying down the state’s backlog of bills and better funding the state’s pension systems.
Appointed incumbent Sen. Robert Peters also is running.
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For more information about this race and others, including candidate questionnaires, go to our Illinois primary voting guide. Our newspaper is owned by a group of civic-minded and, in some cases, politically active investors; for details, see our owner information page.
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