Jim Dey: Low-profile candidates looking for a high-profile win

Mar. 6—It's not often that two smart people fight for the right to be cannon fodder.

Fortunately for them, Thomas Clatterbuck and Joshua Loyd — political young'uns at 31 and 27, respectively — don't see it that way.

Each thinks incumbent 13th Congressional District Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, is beatable in November, and they're competing in the March 19 Republican Party primary for the chance to do so.

Theirs is a decidedly minority opinion. The Washington, D.C.-based Republican Congressional Campaign Committee didn't bother to include the freshman Democrat on its target list.

That means Loyd, a West Point graduate from Virden who operates his own business, and Clatterbuck, a Jacksonville native in his third year at the University of Illinois College of Law, are on their own as they fight for the right to wage an uphill battle.

They were doing just that Monday at the Champaign Public Library, where they spoke to the Active Senior Republicans.

Clatterbuck told his audience he intends to wage a positive campaign emphasizing issues important to voters. In that way, he said he can eclipse Budzinski's plan to cruise to re-election by "not making waves" and "playing the moderate."

"She's not a particularly strong candidate on her own," he said, noting that a GOP victory depends on getting "cross-over voters."

Loyd told the group his campaign is "based on three pillars" — "the teachers, the preachers and service."

He said public-school educational performance is shockingly poor and greater effort needs to be made to teach fundamentals like reading. Loyd emphasized the importance of "community service" provided by "preachers" who give "parts of themselves" to help others.

Finally, he said emphasis on service means providing greater resources to the military and law enforcement so they can protect the nation from threats within and without the U.S.

Talking of winning is easy, but getting it done will be a huge challenge.

Budzinski is sitting in the catbird's seat now, at least partly, because Republicans nominated a weak candidate, Regan Deering of Decatur, against her two years ago.

In addition to the power of incumbency, Budzinkski is astute, connected and flush with cash.

She's a veteran political operative whose experience gave her strong ties to powerful Illinois Democrats. So connected is Budzinski that her fellow politicos drew the new 13th District specifically for her to move to and run in.

The Washington Post labeled the 13th, which runs in a winding, snakelike fashion from Champaign County to the Missouri border, the "most gerrymandered" of the nation's 435 congressional districts.

Finally, despite heavy spending, her campaign coffers contain $1 million-plus.

Loyd said he hopes to overcome her advantages through the traditional retail tactics of knocking on doors and talking to voters.

Noting there are many thousands of residences in the 13th, he joked "that's a lot of door-knocking."

In his talk, Loyd inadvertently emphasized a major problem he faces — name recognition. After answering each question, he reminded the audience that "once again, my name is Joshua Loyd."

It is unsurprising that the two candidates agree on many issues. Both raised concerns about the costs of President Joe Biden's quasi-open borders policy that has encouraged million of foreign residents to illegally enter the U.S.

"We don't even know who's coming in here," Loyd said.

Clatterbuck agreed. He also reminded the group that he has been talking about risks posed by artificial intelligence long before it came hot news.

Both candidates agreed the U.S. should support Israel in its war against Hamas. The only issue on which they disagreed concerns military aid for Ukraine.

Loyd supports it, while Clatterbuck opposes it.