Proving it's never too early to start campaigning, Ilya Sheyman has thrown his hat in the ring as he challenges incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert Dold in Illinois' 10th Congressional District, which includes Lake Forest, Highland Park, Zion, Waukegan and Vernon Hills, among many other cities, villages and townships.
Young ( 25 ) and seemingly fearless, Sheyman tackled a number of questions about everything from his district to LGBT rights to his own background.
Windy City Times: For those not familiar with the 10th Congressional District, could you describe it?
Ilya Sheyman: Sure. It's a district that starts on the North Shore and goes up to Wisconsin. Then it heads west into Lake County, and the north and northwest suburbs. Seventy-five percent of the district is Lake County and 25 percent is Cook County.
It's one of the most economically diverse districts in the country, from the North Shore communities being some of the wealthiest in the country to places like Round Lake, Waukegan and North Chicago, which have up to 18 percent unemployment. It's also being pretty mixed [ ethnically ] . Politically, it's been a pretty mixed bag, with Republican members of Congress for 32 years but it has voted Democrat on the presidential level since Bill Clinton in 1992.
WCT: That's interesting. Why do you think that is?
IS: I think it's a district that prides itself on people who think independently instead of just party lines. It's for people who have ideals they're going to fight for instead of party affiliation.
WCT: But you're aiming for an office the district has traditionally voted Republican on, correct? What makes you think you can break the mold?
IS: I think it's two things: One, as part of redistricting, this district has gotten much more diverse. We have significant populations of new voters around Waukegan, Round Lake, Zion and Grayslake—working-class folks who have economic issues.
The other piece is the current incumbent, Bob Dold, is very much unlike his predecessors. He has voted party lines on everything from ending Medicare to defunding Planned Parenthood. So I don't think he's in the mold of what people are looking for.
WCT: So would you say that Dold is more conservative than, say, [ predecessor Mark ] Kirk was?
IS: I think Dold has been a party-line vote on every issue. I don't think it's a liberal or conservative issue; I just think that he's voted with his party every single time.
WCT: I know that you have quite an activist background, having been involved with MoveOn.org and other organizations. Do you ever think you may be too "edgy" for some constituents in this district?
IS: [ Laughs ] I grew up in this district; I grew up in Buffalo Grove. My first organizing job was working on school-funding reform to reduce some of the disparity between schools across the district. My professional background has been organizing on issues, like trying to pass healthcare reform and trying to fix the school-funding system and trying to end the war in Iraq. I think on this whole set of issues that I've worked on—I think it's what the district can expect: that I'm going to fight for them.
WCT: Seeing how divisive Congress was during the debt-ceiling crisis makes me wonder why anyone would want to be in D.C. Why do you want to be there?
IS: Yes, that's the question I get asked most often, seeing all the frustration that was magnified. The reason is—I don't know how much you know about my background: My family moved here two decades as Jewish refugees and worked their way up. They worked hard, played by the rules and made a better life for their son. I think that sense of possibility—that through hard work and support for government, you can achieve a middle-class lifestyle—is really slipping away for people all across the district. I think there's far too much at stake to just sit on the sidelines. The reality is the Republicans are busy dismantling what made middle-class life possible, and I think the Democrats aren't standing up and fighting back. I think the people in this district need someone who's going to fight for the middle class.
WCT: Could you tell me about your past political experience?
IS: Sure. I spent the past year and a half as a mobilization director at MoveOn.org, where I worked to organize 5 million members to try to pass healthcare reform. I had to leveraging abroad and networking. It meant pushing Republicans who were standing in the way of healthcare and I had to incentivize Democrats to fight things we believe in.
WCT: What do you feel is the most pressing issue for the LGBT community?
IS: That's a good question. One of the challenges we've had over the past decade is that we've tried to do this issue by issue, trying to take on ENDA and DOMA—one by one, and re-fighting the same battle. I think the reality is that it's long past time to have full equality. So I think the most pressing issue is that the political system hasn't caught up to the American people. I think the real battle is to pass a civil-rights act that includes all 1,000 [ -plus ] benefits that come with full equality. I think if we make the case to the American people for full equality, we'll win that. There needs to be federal recognition of issues, including marriage.
WCT: Regarding HIV/AIDS, what would you do to try to further education and awareness regarding the disease?
IS: I think there are a couple things. We need more awareness programs. There are places, like Washington, D.C., where HIV/AIDS exists at a tremendous proportion. I think we also need to give people a sense of HIV/AIDS as something that can be controlled, which is a huge achievement. We need to provide low-income folks with more access to treatment. We just need to deal with the misinformation out there. Also, there's the fact that if you're LGBT, you can't give blood to the Red Cross; that fosters some stereotypes, and that's not helpful.
So the top priority for me is access to treatment, and then there's access to accurate information about what the risks are and what the risks aren't.
WCT: Let's say you are elected. What would you like to accomplish within your first 100 days?
IS: I think the reality is that the top priority that I hear about every day in the district is passing the jobs bill. Fundamentally, there are people looking for work all across the district and the country. I think the Republican party has pushed this [ other ] ideology and there hasn't been a single jobs legislation introduced in this Congress. If we pass a jobs bill that uses federal money to put people to work and supports small businesses as well as provide a safety net to those who aren't working, that'd do tremendous good for the economy. To do that, I think we have to start tackling the tax system and bring some fairness back into it. The unemployment and underemployment rates are tremendously high.
WCT: I have a general question: Who would you say has been the biggest influence on you?
IS: I would say, without a doubt, that person would be [ the late ] Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. With him, politics wasn't just about money and power; it's about the improvement of people's lives. That has to be our focus; if we do that, we'll be in good shape.
See www.ilyasheyman.com for more information.
