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“Illinoisans have a fighter and experienced leader in Nikki Budzinski, who’s been standing up for working families for decades. Nikki knows these families are the backbone of Illinois – that’s why she’s fighting tirelessly to create good-paying union jobs, lower costs, and ensure everyone has a fair shot at economic security. Illinois can’t afford Joshua Loyd, who is too extreme and unqualified to address the challenges they’re facing,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
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To: Interested Parties
From: Mallory Payne, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: March 20, 2024
Subject: The Case Against Joshua Loyd
With Joshua Loyd emerging from the GOP primary in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, voters have a clear choice in November: Nikki Budzinski, who has spent her career fighting for working families in Illinois, or Loyd, who lacks the leadership and skills necessary to deliver meaningful results in Congress.
Nikki is the only candidate in the race who will put hard-working families first in Washington. Illinois voters resoundingly elected Nikki in 2022 because they trust her record of standing with workers. From spending a decade fighting for better wages and protections for the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) to successfully leading the charge to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour, Nikki has a proven record of standing up for families – always.
In Congress, she’s working tirelessly to build on that progress and grow the middle class: expanding job training initiatives and supporting apprenticeship programs, protecting workers in the case of layoffs, and pushing the federal government to award federal funds to pro-union projects.
She is also helping to keep families safe and create good-paying jobs by delivering critical investments to her district, including more than a hundred thousand dollars for local law enforcement and $1 billion for a clean hydrogen production and distribution hub. And when the Republican House majority killed a bipartisan border security bill for purely political reasons, Nikki stepped up and called for action to secure the southern border.
Meanwhile, Joshua Loyd has no public policy experience whatsoever. Rather than focusing on an agenda that gets things done for Illinois, he’s in lockstep with extremists in Congress and pushing a dangerous, out-of-touch agenda that would hurt Illinois workers and families.
JOSHUA LOYD IS UNQUALIFIED & EXTREME
There’s no question that Joshua Loyd is out-of-step with and wrong for Central and Southern Illinois. He’s unqualified, inexperienced, and out of touch.
Loyd has no experience whatsoever in delivering the type of leadership that working families need. With absolutely no background at all working to lower the cost of living, secure the southern border, or create good-paying union jobs, Loyd still thought it was a good idea to ask Illinoisans for their votes.
On top of his inexperience, Loyd is too extreme for Illinois. He opposes abortion rights and has disturbingly claimed Democrats are “killing our babies.” He wants to “actively punish” migrants and has even degraded hard-working educators, claiming they’re teaching kids “diseased curriculums leading students into the school to prison pipelines.”
Illinois families want a representative like Nikki Budzinski who will work to lower costs and secure the border, and Loyd hasn’t offered any plans to address the challenges they’re facing. Instead, he’ll be a guaranteed vote for his party’s dangerous agenda, including banning abortion nationwide.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: To get things done, Illinois’ Nikki Budzinski says she ignores ‘political noise’ [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/30/24]
Edwardsville Intelligencer: Tax relief for families: Budzinski votes ‘yes’ as Child Tax Credit expanded [Edwardsville Intelligencer, 1/1/24]
IPM News: Freshman lawmaker Nikki Budzinski says she’s found ways to work across the aisle in her first 100 days [IPM News, 4/16/23]
Springfield State Journal-Register: One-on-one with U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski: Act on immigration, protect abortion rights [Springfield State Journal-Register, 1/24/24]
Agri-Pulse: Budzinski: Democrats, Republicans can ‘meet the moment’ to pass a farm bill this year [Agri-Pulse, 3/15/24]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: US Rep. Nikki Budzinski Advances Bill to Help Military Veterans [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/6/23]
St. Louis Business Journal: Metro East congresswoman calls for investment to keep Granite City Works open [St. Louis Business Journal, 1/26/24]
The Telegraph: Energy efficiency upgrades for rural businesses funded [The Telegraph, 2/16/24]
PATH TO VICTORY
A labor leader who has spent her career fighting to bolster the middle class and increase pay for working families, Nikki Budzinski has the profile needed to win this working-class district that stretches from East St. Louis to Champaign. Last cycle, she overperformed President Biden to win this competitive seat by 13 points.
This November, voters will choose between an experienced representative who is working to create and sustain good-paying jobs and an unqualified candidate who can’t be trusted to actually fix the issues that matter most. Budzinski is the strongest possible candidate to make that case and win big again in 2024.
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