This is a countdown of the top 10 stories of 2022 written about by Cat Petersen and/or Kevin Woodard. These are stories in the sense of “stories we followed.” Each of these “stories” had multiple stories written about them and published on our web site.
Number 10. Esther Joy King
King ran this year for the 17th U.S. House District seat.
King fact checked the fact checkers in February when an Iowa TV Station took her to task on her stance against children being required to wear masks in schools. Her response was short and on target. “It just takes a simple Google search to see John Hopkins studies and Brown university studies that show masking is doing incredible harm to kids,” King said.
By June East Moline’s King appeared to be the strongest candidate. It was reported she had $1.5 million on hand for her campaign. She won the Republican Primary with 68% of the vote defeating Charlie Helmick who received 32% of votes cast in the two person contest. That led to her facing Democrat Eric Sorensen in the general election.
In July Cities interviewed King and she spoke with us regarding military recruiting issues as well as how military women feel about restricted access to abortion.
By September, 46th District State Senate race candidate, Republican Desi Anderson and King were campaigning together. Campaign ads got hotter as Sorensen began attacking King saying she wanted, “to pass the national abortion ban, which would allow women and their doctors to be prosecuted for getting abortions.” Meanwhile King kept her campaign positive.
In November, on the last day before the election, King brought her message to Bloomington one last time, finishing her Road Trip to Victory tour with Anderson at her side. On election day Sorensen won the race for the U.S. House in the Illinois 17th District.
