EAST MOLINE – As the Illinois 17th Congressional District race tightens one week before the Nov. 3 General Election, Republican challenger Esther Joy King released a fourth TV commercial showing U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos is increasingly leaving constituents behind, a press release from her campaign says.
"Illinois families are struggling, yet Washington ignores us," according to the King spot "Gone Washington." "Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are pushing a devastating agenda, crushing families and small businesses back home and Cheri Bustos is blindly following, voting with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time, voting against tax relief for families ($1,442 a year)."
"Cheri Bustos, who is she working for, because it's not us?" the spot asks.
As if to prove the point, Pelosi's House Majority Super PAC entered the race today with a $600,000 media buy attacking King on Bustos's behalf.
Esther Joy King is reaching out to the real people in the 17th District, with more than 425,000 voter contacts during this campaign. And voters are paying attention. The Cook Political Report last week changed its rating on the Illinois 17th Congressional race to "Leaning Democrat" from "Likely Democrat."
The latest polling released by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and Esther for Congress campaign shows King at 44.2%, Bustos at 48.5%, and 7.3% undecided. Voters continue to react favorably toward Esther Joy King’s message, with nearly three quarters of voters recognizing her name and a more than 2:1 positive image. The poll, conducted by The Tarrance Group, is a summary of findings from a survey of voters in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District conducted Oct. 10-12, 2020. The results reflect a survey of 418 voters in the district, with a margin of error of +/-4.9%.
Meanwhile, Bustos's own attack ads against King continue to show her as a candidate who is running scared.
"This is what Washington politicians like Cheri Bustos do when voters have had enough of them – they attack and distort their opponent's record as a distraction from the fact that Bustos is helping create jobs in China, not here Illinois," King said.
King, who is running on a platform of bipartisan cooperation, jumpstarting the economy and recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, and solving the healthcare dilemma after decades of political games, stands in stark contrast to Bustos. During nearly a decade in Congress, Bustos has passed only three bills, all re-naming post offices. She has proven adept at the insider’s game of partisan politics, ascending to become Nancy Pelosi’s political general and the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the partisan political arm of House Democrats.
King, a JAG officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, announced her candidacy to represent the Illinois 17th Congressional District on Aug. 21, 2019, and won the March 17, 2020, primary by a margin of 65.1% to 34.9%, is a vocal advocate for improving constituent service and representing the values and priorities of central, western, and northwestern Illinois.
