The Sun-Times spoke with Freeport residents to gauge what’s on their minds days before Tuesday’s election, and their responses were fittingly diverse for a blue-leaning city in a blood-red county. Patty Tricker worries that Democrats are “all too happy to let criminals roam free.” But Gary Jakubowski fears Trump’s persistent lies about the 2020 election: “It’s un-American. It’s scary.”
Former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias of Chicago is the front-runner to complete his political comeback over central Illinois GOP state Rep. Dan Brady and suburban Libertarian Jon Stewart.
Some Peoria residents say it feels like politicians are less and less interested in finding the center their city has long represented and instead are more focused on playing to extremes. “It seems like there is no middle ground out there anymore,” one resident said.
Residents told the Sun-Times they want public officials to take a holistic approach to the problems facing their lakefront city. “So it’s not just, oh, do this, vote this way, and boom, now we’re good. We need leaders who take a macro vision,” said photographer Jordan Esparza-Kelley.