Meet the candidates running for Illinois' newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District spans from Chicago's Northwest Side, to the west and southwest suburbs in parts of Cook and DuPage counties.
The choices for voters in November include a Republican from the western suburbs and a Democrat from Chicago.
Delia Ramirez (D) is currently a state representative. When the new predominantly Latino district was created, she said she was motivated to run to bring a Latina voice to all issues in Washington.
"This congressional district is diverse in geography, diverse in race, diverse in socio-economics [and] deserves a representative that is a full-time representative -- someone who understands the importance of building unity," Ramirez said at her Hermosa campaign office.
Justin Burau (R) works in the real estate mortgage business. It was his frustration of trying to get his father healthcare that motivated him to run for office for the first time.
"We need to create more competition and allow more of these insurance companies, and have these medical providers, these hospitals, to be more transparent," he said.
Burau spoke with ABC7 at Armand's Pizzeria in Elwood Park, which was on his late father's garbage collection route.
Burau said in this diverse district, he wants to be a voice for all. He said he supports a simpler process to citizenship for those who meet all DACA qualifications but first, he would focus on the border.
"The first part -- I've said this quite a bit -- we can't do anything until we secure the border first. We can't handle the influx that is coming in right now and a lot of times we don't know who is coming in," Burau said.
Ramirez is married to a DACA recipient and sees creating easier paths to citizenship would have economic benefits for all.
"When you think about buying power, the Latino community's number continues to double and quadruple. Many of them are from people who don't have legal status in this country but if we had a pathway to immigration reform they would have that," Ramirez said.
As for public safety, Ramirez wants to see resources devoted to the root causes of crime, like mental health treatment. Burau wants to get more resources to law enforcement agencies so officers can spend more time getting to know people in their communities.
