Cheri Bustos and Esther Joy King battled in a tight 17th Congressional District last time, and King is back but this time she believes the parents are on her side.
“It just takes a simple Google research to see John Hopkins studies and Brown university studies that show masking is doing incredible harm to kids, but more importantly, all you got to do is talk to parents and teachers. I have met so many parents over the past few weeks who are just at the point of being angry because they they’re seeing the harm that masking is doing to their children,” said Esther Joy King, a Republican candidate in the 17th congressional district. “It’s negatively affecting learning. It causes significant social and emotional harm.”
A team of Johns Hopkins researchers recently reported that when studying a group of about 48,000 children, they found zero COVID deaths among healthy kids. Lockdowns, according to Johns Hopkins researchers, has very little effect on “stopping the spread.”
King was “fact-checked” by an Iowa TV station, KWQC, about her following statement:
“It’s time for all these performative COVID restrictions and mandates to end. School mask mandates, like the one Gov. Pritzker forced onto Illinois, are not based on science. In fact, there is science showing masking our kids does more harm than good. I hear from parents all across Northern, Western and Central Illinois who want to make these decisions for their kids, but unfortunately, Governor Pritzker is doubling down on his mask mandate as evidence is mounting they don’t prevent the spread of COVID and harm our children. Governor Pritzker is out of touch with parents and the people of Illinois.”
King said she is the daughter of Christian missionary parents, and they raised her with an orientation towards Esther.
Cat Petersen from the Morning Rush with Robert & Cat at the Illinois State Fair
“Like my parents said to me, ‘Esther, if there’s something wrong in the world, it’s our job to jump in, make a difference to try and help out,'” said King. “Now with everything going on in our country, I just can’t sit on the sidelines. It’s my responsibility to do what I can to use our voice, to fight for America, to fight for the state of Illinois. You asked: ‘Why would you, why would I even want to run as a Republican in the state of Illinois?’ This is my home.”
King said when going up against Bustos it was a David versus Goliath type narrative considering Bustos’ leadership status.
“We came within 4% while being outspent by $5 million.,” said King. “They have gone off the rails to the left. The Democrats that I talked to and the Independents and all the Republicans, they are so fed up with a single party controlled Washington, DC, and they do not support what’s happening in the Biden administration. They’re ready to come our way. They are excited and fired up to vote Republican because right now republicanism means freedom versus the latter…authoritarianism.”
The 17th congressional district is massive. It starts in Rockford, Illinois. It goes across the Mississippi, goes down, includes the quad cities and in comparison to last cycle, it only went to Peoria, but redistricting has changed it to include lots of Bloomington-Normal.
“So now in a gerrymandering effort, the Democrats have extended the district all the way over to Bloomington-Normal,” said King.
Congressman Darin LaHood tells Cities he hopes Esther Joy King is a colleague in Congress come the 2022 midterm election in November.
