Although State Rep. Carol Ammons had Champaign-Urbana fired-up about the 2018 election (a year and a half in advance), tonight, via an email, she has officially stated that she will not seek Rodney “Hot Rod” Davis’ seat for the 13th district of Illinois.
For more information, check out Rep. Ammons’ official statement below:
For the past two months, I have been considering a run for Illinois’ 13th Congressional seat in 2018. To determine if I should run, I held listening sessions throughout the district and spoke with hundreds of people about their concerns. If I wasn’t able to make it to your community, it was simply that time didn’t coincide with my ongoing work in Springfield and I hope to visit your community in the near future.
Throughout all the listening sessions, across the 13th – whether it was Champaign-Urbana or Edwardsville, the one thing that I have heard over and over is that the things impacting the lives of Illinoisans on a day-to-day basis, the things that are pushing people into survival mode, and crushing families – those are primarily state issues. Issues that have been exacerbated by the Governor’s refusal to negotiate, to enact a budget, and his disdain for the working people of Illinois. Issues that if he has another term, will destroy our state.
What I heard at the listening sessions, loudest and clearest, is that right now where I am needed is in state government. It is with the deepest thank you for what you have shared with me and the support and encouragement you have so freely given, that I have to say at this time I am choosing to not run for the 13th Congressional District in 2018.
If you contributed to the exploratory campaign: THANK YOU. I appreciate your generous and strong statement of support. Your contribution was used to travel the 13th, host events, and any remaining balance after reimbursing several volunteers who drove me hundreds of miles, will be donated to local not-for-profit organizations struggling because of the Governor’s budget impasse.
If you signed up to volunteer: THANK YOU. I appreciate your willingness to volunteer your time and energy. Just because I am not running for Congress does not mean we’re done. There is a lot of work ahead for all of us in the coming election. I’ll be reaching out to you again shortly to help me fight for our state.
Please know that I did not make this decision lightly. I see what’s happening on the national stage and believe me; I share your concern. The purpose of the exploratory committee was to hear what you wanted and what I heard you say is that you want a stable state government. Although many people have asked me to run for Congress many more have asked me to remain a voice in Springfield, and right now, that’s where I need to be, and that’s what I promise to do.
Make no mistake – I will still be using my voice to hold Congressman Davis accountable in the coming election. He voted to take health coverage away from more than 50,000 of his constituents and has refused to honor his constituent’s requests for town halls – voters in every corner of his district must be reminded of this before Tuesday, November 6th, 2018.
Thank you for your support during this exploratory process and I look forward to working with you in 2018 to elect a new Governor and a new Congressperson who will put people and the planet first because Illinois cannot endure another four years of Governor Rauner.
Sincerely,
Carol