A four-time candidate for Congress who never won is now running for state representative in Central Illinois.
Funks Grove resident David Gill is a physician who directs a hospice program. He is running as an independent against another doctor, Bill Hauter of Morton. Hauter is the Republican incumbent in the 87th District which stretches from East Peoria to Heyworth and south to Illiopolis. There is no Democratic candidate.
Gill ran for Congress three times as a Democrat and once as an independent (2016), losing each race.
In an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas, Gill said he's running because he believes voters feel disenfranchised by the two-party system.
“We've got two major parties that are funded by the same powerful institutions, Wall Street banks and health insurance companies and big oil and arms manufacturers, and that those powerful institutions dictate to both parties the priorities of our representatives, and I think ordinary citizens wind up feeling ignored and develop a sense of hopelessness,” said Gill.
He said the two parties have made it nearly impossible for an independent to get on the ballot, particularly in this state.
“Illinois is the worst or second or worst state in the nation with respect to ballot access for independents and third-party candidates. And so I really overcame long odds to even achieve this. We need representatives that put people first rather than party,” said Gill.
Gill has run in the past with progressive ideas, some of the same ones he emphasizes in this election cycle and contest. He said that was borne out in the 10,000-plus doors he knocked on to gather petition signatures to get on the ballot.
“Most voters feel the vast majority of us here in (the 87th District) bear too large of a tax burden. I talked a lot with people about bodily autonomy. There's a number of people, whether they consider themselves Republican, Democrat or independent, who feel that privacy is important with respect to healthcare, whether it be women's reproductive rights, or I've talked a lot for many years about medical aid in dying,” said Gill.
Gill said 10 states allow terminal patients to go to the doctor and receive a prescription for something to "end their suffering." Illinois is not one of them, though Gill said most groups including Republicans and Catholics poll in favor of allowing medical aid in dying.
He said he favors a progressive income tax to allow overall tax rate reductions.
“Going door to door and talking with people, I think they do feel the wealthy and the corporations haven't been paying their fair share here in Illinois for quite a long time. I think we can still generate sufficient income if we were to tax those very wealthy individuals and corporations at a rate that they should have been paying for a long time,” said Gill.
The contest with Hauter pits two physicians against each other on the ballot. Gill said that is more a curiosity than anything that shapes the race.
“I think with regard to healthcare and the nexus of where healthcare meets politics, our perspective is quite different. On two issues, reproductive freedoms and the right to do what you want to do if you are a terminal patient, we differ substantially,” said Gill.
After four previous unsuccessful candidacies, Gill agreed his run this time could be considered "quixotic." But he noted that he ran as a Democrat in three of those races. He said this is a second attempt at an independent campaign.
“I think the problems just don't go away. People still have trouble keeping their heads above water. 40% of the people that live in this country, and presumably in this district, would be harmed terribly by a $400 emergency. You know, the need to replace a couple of tires on their car would really throw a monkey wrench into their economic status … And it's hard to just sit by and watch people get the short end of the stick,” said Gill.
Gill noted there are just two candidates on the ballot, not three.
“I think a very quixotic thing to do would be to charge into a race like this, if there were already two candidates from the major parties, but there's not. The odds obviously are long against me, but I think this is something that can be achieved and won in a one-on-one battle,” said Gill.
The largely rural district is drawn to favor a Republican candidate. Yet Gill said anecdotal touches with voters during the petition gathering phase allows him to hope national politics, though polarized, may not be as starkly divided as is often portrayed.
“I heard far more often than not that the voters around here do not like Gov. Pritzker. I was surprised at how many self-described Republicans told me how much they don't like former President Trump and that they wouldn't be voting for him,” said Gill. "I must have had, oh gosh, three or four dozen talks with people who were Republican, through and through, but who told me that they had had enough of former President Trump."
He said those exchanges have him wondering if the various polls in the presidential race might be missing something.
“I think at the end of the day it's kind of fundamental that people want affordable healthcare and affordable housing and the ability to go to the grocery store and jobs. It's very ground-level basic needs that everybody has, whether they think of themselves as left, right or center,” said Gill.
An email to incumbent representative Hauter seeking comment on issue differences with Gill has not yet received a reply.
