Ballot challenges filed against RFK Jr., Springfield congressional candidate
Patrick M. KeckThe Illinois State Board of Elections received a slew of ballot challenges July 1, including several presidential candidates and a local congressional candidate.
Records from the state election board show a Springfield resident is behind the challenge to 27-year-old Chibu Asonye, running as a Green Party candidate in Illinois Congressional District 13. The Champaign resident entered the race at the end of June and joins U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, and Republican challenger Josh Loyd.
Carolyn Cochran Kopel, who placed the objection Monday morning, has supported the Democratic incumbent in both of her campaigns. Budzinski enjoys a substantial funding advantage over Loyd and according to the Federal Election Commission, Kopel has contributed $6,350 to her campaign this election cycle alone.
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The Asonye campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More details on the objection will be revealed July 9 when the election board assigns a hearing officer, formally starting the process.
Challenges to RFK Jr., Jill Stein
For the presidential elections, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein saw challenges to their nomination papers from Democratic-backed individuals. Republicans filed challenges against Constitution Party candidate Randall Terry and the Libertarian Party's placeholder candidate.
The challenges come as questions swirl regarding President Joe Biden's longevity with some Democrats saying he should drop out of the race following a shaky debate performance at the end of June.
Biden is expected to meet with Democratic governors at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the future of his campaign and their efforts to dispatch former President Donald Trump in November. Gov. JB Pritzker will be in attendance, The Chicago Tribune reporting he also was on an earlier call with the Democratic Governors Association.
Pritzker's name has popped up as a potential replacement for Biden, as the governor's personal wealth as a heir to Hyatt Hotel fortune could quickly jump-start a national campaign if needed. Despite these calls, he has however remained a steadfast supporter of Biden.
The debate, Pritzker said in a statement, only made the decision between Biden and Trump more clear. Trump lost Illinois by more than 17 percentage points in 2016 and 2020.
“At every turn, Donald Trump lied, rambled, and misled the American people about what a second Trump term would look like, but voters won’t be fooled," the governor said. "This is a man who brags about ripping reproductive rights away from women, tried to gut healthcare for millions of Americans, shipped jobs overseas, and sold out the middle class to the wealthiest bidders. Trump’s second term will only be worse."
While the governor is still behind Biden, others such as Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett think the president should withdraw. That decision can only be made by Biden, Pritzker later told CNN Tuesday evening ahead the meeting, and described the conversations among Democrats as "healthy."
Biden, who has not spoken with Pritzker since the debate, the governor said needs to communicate more with Democratic leaders and voters. Polls indicate that the president's debate performance has voters thinking he should be replaced for Democrats to stand a better chance of defending the Oval Office.
"When you come off a bad debate, you need to remind people why you're the right guy to elect," Pritzker told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. "I know that Joe Biden will do that over the next couple of weeks, at least I expect him to."
Contact Patrick M. Keck: pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.