Gaither Campaign for Rural America

I continue to see so much animosity and outrage pouring out on social media and in public regarding the President. This is not all that helpful in the upcoming midterm elections. The Democratic Party becoming the anti-Trump party is not a good political move, nor is it a good move for the People. It doesn’t win elections and it’s not polling well either.

The vast majority of registered voters don’t believe Democrats support anything. That’s a huge red flag for me. If you recall in the Clinton era, Republicans ran aggressively against Bill Clinton in ’96, both in Congress and in political speech/ads. How did that turnout for them? The same can be said in ’04 with George W Bush.

Anti-the-other-candidate campaigns most often fail. The latest campaign that ran on that message was the Hillary campaign. She had great policies that would have made a difference, but how many voters actually connected with those policies? That campaign simply ran against Trump and thought that was good enough to win the election. It was ultimately a losing message in downstate Illinois, throughout much of the Midwest, and rural America.

I want to caution anyone that goes full tilt in anger-outrage mode against President Trump. It might make some feel better and that you’re in solidarity with one another, but it’s not going to change these House district races. We have to set out a real vision for the People and the country.

I’m dedicated to making policies that will make a difference to the People of the 15th District and throughout downstate Illinois, both in the short term and the long term. The People here haven’t had a real advocate or a fighter on their side in the House for far too long.

Most of the people I talk to on the campaign trail don’t care about the Russian investigation. Of course, those of us that have been linked into politics and history are deeply concerned about every detail, but it doesn’t mean anything to the daily lives of regular folks throughout the district.

That’s why I’m focusing on what will make a difference in the lives of real people in my campaign. I’ve never been one to be against someone but to be for others instead, regardless of their beliefs, their gender, their religion, their background, or anything else about them.

Everyone deserves a shot at the American Dream. They deserve better representation than they’ve received in decades.

Let’s change that together!