Macon Reporter

Regan Deering, candidate for the Illinois 13th Congressional District laments the state of the country in an effort to get people to the polls.

Deering is urging Illinoisans to go out and vote, noting a result of a recent survey which found that 74 percent of poll respondents said that things in the country are going in the wrong direction, compared with 24 percent who said the country is moving in the right direction.  

"We simply cannot afford to continue to elect Democrats that are destroying this country. We must VOTE! There is too much at stake," Deering said. 

The 2022 American Values Survey conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution reported that "Large majorities of Republicans (93%) and independents (76%) say the country is moving in the wrong direction, compared with a narrower majority of Democrats (53%)." 

In a live-streamed conversation with Shannon Adcock of Awake Illinois, Deering said that she is a mother of three from Decatur. She holds a biology degree from Duke and an education degree from DePaul and became a science teacher. After her kids were born, she became a small business owner and got involved in volunteering in her community. She said that one of the reasons she decided to run was the executive order mandating masks in schools. 

Deering said that the mandates during COVID were "too much" and that it was and still is a "really slippery slope." She recounted a time when her 15-year-old daughter said she was fine wearing masks if it meant she could go to school, but Deering said that she wanted to end the mask mandates because she did not want her daughter wearing a mask at prom. 

Deering strongly emphasized that if no one stands up now, there is no telling what could come next. 

She added that inflation is the biggest issue in her district. She says that her years as a small business owner and as a mom balancing the family budget taught her fiscal responsibility that she intends on taking to Congress. 

Deering said another big issue is crime, especially in Champaign County; she went on to make the point that people are afraid to go out due to crime, and it is hurting the economy. 

She also talked about "the open Southern border." She says that the people coming across are a strain on the government and that criminals and drugs are pouring across the border. She added that fentanyl is pouring across the border and affects every state, not just the border states.

Paul Caprio, director of Family PAC Federal, opposes abortion views held by Democratic candidate Nikki Budzinski, who is running against Deering in the 13th Congressional District. Budzinski supports federal abortion legislation that would revoke parental rights. 

According to Caprio, Budzinski supports the Women's Health Protection Act, which would make it illegal for states to force abortion providers to notify parents if their minor has an abortion; it would allow abortion until birth, and it would get rid of the Hyde Amendment, which means taxpayers would be funding abortions. Budzinski supports this bill along with every House Democrat except Henry Cuellar of Texas. After Deering picked up the endorsement of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Budzinski said she will fight to protect the reproductive rights of women in her district and "stand up against national abortion bans and other restrictive measures."

Deering won the GOP primary in Illinois' 13th Congressional district and is "excited to be moving on to the general election to represent the incredible people of IL13." 

"We have to send a strong message that we are ready for change!" she said. 

In the newly drawn district which includes the Metro East area, Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign, Republicans outnumbered Democrats in the primary 42,000 to 39,000. Deering is also an educator and a philanthropist in Decatur who is passionate about restoring Illinois, noting "It’s time to return to a government that is accountable to, 'We The People' and serve the taxpayers who pay the bills, not a bloated and unresponsive bureaucracy that serves itself. I was born and raised in central Illinois and I stand first and foremost for the rule of law and preserving the U.S. Constitution."