Government & Politics

US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) talks coronavirus recovery packages, civil unrest, economic recovery, antitrust concerns with Big Ag and big tech companies, the Barrett nomination, election process and security and Democratic challenges with working class voters. He also lays out why he’s seeking a 5th term in the US Senate.

Rick Pearson, chief political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, talks about the US Senate race in Illinois, Justice Kilbride’s retention, Fair Tax Amendment, and the federal investigation into corruption involving ComEd that touches on Speaker Madigan’s political operation.

Colin Woodard, author of Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, talks about his latest book that “examines how a myth of national unity, purpose and identity was created and fought over in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” The story is told through five individuals, some of whom are familiar but some being more obscure. He also discusses how the confrontations over American identity and nationhood continue to this day. Woodard also authored the New York Times bestselling American Nations.

Mark Curran, Republican candidate for the US Senate in Illinois, discusses the reasons for his candidacy as well as his views on the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and civil unrest. He also provides his views on the Barrett nomination norms on Supreme Court appointments in the final years of presidential terms.

Democratic congressional candidate, former State Senator Rita Hart, running in the open seat 2nd District, talks about the federal response to the Covid pandemic, how to boost the rural economy, the US approach to trade and China, and health care. She also offers her committee preferences if elected and her first legislative priority.

On Midwest Week, an investigation begins of the top Democratic Party leader in Illinois.