During a recent fundraiser, Democrat Sean Casten spoke about his business and science credentials to an audience supporting his candidacy for the 6th Congressional District in the northern suburbs.
Referring to his two decade effort to combat climate change, Casten said, "If you learn nothing else coming up as a scientist, it's that you have to deal with facts as they sit, not the facts as you'd like them to be."
This theme echoed through the evening as U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley ( D-5th District ) spoke.
"We always could use more hard working, smart, caring folks who understand what it takes to get done," he said, referring to Casten. "Who respect diverse ideas, who respect science."
He added, "We need more people like Sean who can actually hold an educated conversation about science."
Credentials weren't the only focus of the evening, however. During his speech, Casten referred to Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam's positions and votes.
"Pete Roskam calls climate change junk science. That to me is disqualifying," he said. "He voted against the Violence Against Women Act. In 2015, before Trump was elected, he voted to deport people who had self identified under DACA."
He added: "He voted to repeal the ACA about 62 times. The most recent one, had it gone through, would have caused 30,000 people in his district to lose their health insurance20 million, nationallyand would have killed 20-30,000 Americans every year."
Casten is a political newcomer in one of the top ten nationally watched congressional races. See castenforcongress.com .