Posted on 07/11/2021 3:27:55 AM PDT by 11th_VA
… in interviews with close to 30 people over three days in Galesburg, conversations are dominated by issues much closer to home, like rising local crime, racial strife and whether life can return to an approximation of normal after a deadly pandemic.
And their voices matter because it is places like Galesburg, among a few dozen swing congressional districts in the country that will have an outsize voice in the midterm elections next year.
In 2020, voters here favored President Donald Trump but also their incumbent Democratic congresswoman, Cheri Bustos...
An outbreak in crime has stirred emotions here, and Democrats are on guard against Republican accusations that their policies are to blame…
“Here, it's meth," said Karlin, 52. “Meth touches half the cases I have. And it's not the meth you make in your house. It's the meth that comes across the border …
Debra Florio, 70, a retired nurse, believes Trump's false claims that he actually won. On the other side, John Bento, 54, an electrical engineer, remains incensed by the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The disconnect in their views is likely to form the lines of the coming congressional election. Cultural fault lines over race are also readily evident.
Last summer, Mayor John Pritchard fought a resolution sought by the NAACP to acknowledge “institutionalized racism" in policing, hiring and public health. Pritchard, who is 66 and white, rejected the idea that racism is at the heart of disparities today…
(Excerpt) Read more at goshennews.com ...
It seems the electrical engineers have crossed over.
Stopped reading at “Trumps false claims”
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