Update: Incumbent Congressman Eric Sorensen declared victory in his re-election bid in the Illinois 17th Congressional District. Representative Sorensen received 53.8% of the vote with 88% of votes counted, according to the Associated Press at 9:22 a.m. (central time) on November 6th.
Congressman Eric Sorensen and his campaign staff hosted an election watch party last night in Moline.
At Pour Bros. Craft Taproom in Moline, Illinois, campaign staff and volunteers joined community members for snacks and drinks as they watched the polls.
Campaign volunteer Sherri Peoples Jamison said she has worked for Sorensen’s campaign since he was first elected in 2022.
Peoples Jamison said she now works only in the office, where she said she has sent over 12,000 pieces of fundraising mail.
Congressman Eric Sorensen relies on volunteers to further his campaign efforts.
One of them, Matt Brown, represents him through the United Steelworkers union. Since Labor Day, he’s gone from door to door in the district, knocking on almost 4,000.
“Hopefully it just got other people talking, be like, ‘Hey, this guy came talking to me about Eric, and this is what he talked about, and I kind of like what he said,'" Brown said.
Peoples Jamison said she supports Congressman Sorensen for three main reasons.
“Strong, strong union backing because a lot of my friends and families work in unions. Education is one," she said. "Climate, of course, him being the only meteorologist that we have in the United States Congress, that’s a big one."
Brown said he's been certain of who the congressman he’s been representing is, but the unknown results of the election did bring about feelings of anxiety.
“I'm just anxious about it all," he said. "Like, I know that, the numbers and what I've heard, it sounds good, but it's still just anxious, going all over everything, but it feels good.”
Both said they are hopeful of Sorensen's reelection.
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