Budzinski Confident in Dem Chances to Win House, White House
Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (D-Springfield) at a roundtable discussion in Edwardsville Saturday.
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Don’t take it as a sign of complacency.
Instead of barnstorming with local Democrats or putting the full court press on the campaign trail Saturday, freshman Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (D-Springfield) was hosting an official congressional event Saturday in Edwardsville discussing prescription drug prices with a group of independent pharmacists.
Budzinski is a heavy favorite to win a second term Tuesday to the gerrymandered 13th Congressional District, which stretches from East St. Louis to Springfield to Champaign-Urbana, packing as many downstate Democrats as possible into the snake-shaped district.
Her Republican opponent, West Point graduate and Army veteran Joshua Loyd is underfunded and unknown and hasn’t mounted a significant campaign for the seat.
“I haven’t taken anything for granted in the race,” Budzinski said. “We’ve been up on TV, we’ve been doing mail, we’ve been communicating with voters and campaigning throughout the district.”
Budzinski admitted she’s still “anxious” about her race and others on Tuesday.
But she says she’s “optimistic” Democrats will take the House next week, even if the result isn’t known for days.
“We’ve got a lot of great candidates,” she said. “We’ve got a vision and we’re talking about the issues we want to lead on, specifically for working people.”
As for the presidential race, Budzinski believes what all polls seem to show: it’s going to be close.
“I think it’s going to be razor thin. I think it will be the closest election that we will probably see in our lifetimes,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll know the results on Tuesday night, and I would urge everyone stays calm and allows every vote to be counted.”
We had both Budzinski and Loyd on WMAY Friday. You can listen to that here.