Chicago native Dan Seals is vying for the 10th Congressional District seat vacated by Senate candidate Mark Kirk. Seals challenged Kirk for the House seat in the past two elections; he is again seeking the Democratic party's nomination in the February primary.
Seals has worked as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill, as an aide in the Department of Commerce and in the private sector. Most recently, he has been an independent business consultant and lecturer at Northwestern University.
He met Windy City Times for an interview in his Deerfield office.
Windy City Times: This is the third time that you've run in this race. What's different this time? Mark Kirk [ who is running for the U.S. Senate ] is not in the picture …
Dan Seals: That's a big difference right there, and in some ways that may be the biggest. In the last election, 94 percent of incumbents won—both parties. And in Illinois, not one incumbent lost. But I knew that going in, when I challenged him. I didn't want to back away from a fight. I thought there were some important issues on the table—the economy, the war, healthcare—and so I stood up and fought anyway.
WCT: Is it a fairly mixed district, politically? This seat has been Republican for a long time, but the district has voted for Democrats for president for the last three elections.
Dan Seals: Yeah, it's a very interesting district in that regard. I think that this is a district that is a moderate district, a very independent-minded district. And, yes, you see that while we've only had one Democrat congressperson in the last hundred years—which was Abner Mikva, back in the '70s—you've seen that on the presidential level and on the state level, they've started to have Democrats in. It hasn't been an open seat in a long time; again, incumbents have been hard to challenge. But that's one of the reasons why we've had a lot of people who've never been interested in running before come out now.
WCT: What are the big issues for you?
Dan Seals: The economy is number one by far. Look, I go around, we do a lot of grassroots sort of campaigning, so I'll go door to door and talk to people. And you will meet people who have been laid off, who have been out of work for a year, who are worried about being out of work. So there's a lot to do. The question is, how do you fix it? The government can't do everything, but there are some things that the government can be doing better. I think the key is small business. The reason for that is that small business has generated 65 percent of the new jobs in the last 15 years. If you talk to small-business owners, they'll say, look, we can't get financing, we can't get a loan, so we can't hire people. Community banks who would normally make those loans, they took a bath on real estate so they don't have the capacity to give. So one of the things that government can do better is try to provide some of the capital to community banks so they can loan it to the small businesses and get them hiring again.
WCT: I've read some criticism regarding your experience—or lack thereof. How do you respond to that?
Dan Seals: Well, I don't buy it at all. I think the argument they're trying to make is that if you don't have experience in Springfield, that you're not qualified to run. And yet, we can look at any number of very skilled politicians who didn't come from Springfield or places like it. Bill Clinton was governor—he didn't start off in his state legislature. Dick Durbin didn't start off in the state legislature; I think he's done some great things. Beyond that—I'm the only one who's worked on Capitol Hill in Washington. There's this notion that this seat should somehow be a reward for past experience; I think it's an investment in the future, and that's how we should look at it. Who's going to do the most to advance things in the future? Who's got the best ideas? And I think I've got that in spades.
WCT: It seems at this point that a lack of experience in Illinois politics specifically is almost like a badge of honor.
Dan Seals: You know, I wasn't going to say it, but yeah. There are a lot of things that are wrong with Washington. The fact that it's not like Springfield is not one of them. [ Laughs ]
WCT: Do you hear much from gay voters up here?
Dan Seals: I do. Usually, the place where I hear it most is from students. Maybe you see it, too, with your parents or with my parents. LGBT issues were sort of kept behind closed doors back in the old days, but ... going to high school, I had friends who were gay and open and fine with it, and so were we, and that trend has only continued with today's students. So that's something you'll hear if you go to the college campuses or the high schools, that students will ask about.
Frankly, it makes me feel good to know that in the long run, that justice is prevailing—that people are saying, "What's the big deal?" And that's where I think it's going. It's not going there as fast as we would like it, on so many different issues—from marriage to legal rights to immigration—it just covers the whole gamut.
I see it as a civil-rights issue. Everyone in this country should be guaranteed certain inalienable rights. And you can't pick out a group and say, well, they don't get it. That just doesn't make sense to me. So any question that you would have that relates to what members of the LGBT community are going through—it's going to come back to that for me. Can anybody do it? Why shouldn't they?
WCT: It's interesting that you bring up immigration because I feel like that element of the LGBT agenda is not on the radars of a lot of politicians. A lot of groups are pushing for same-sex partners to be able to sponsor each other, on par with what opposite-sex couples can do.
Dan Seals: So for me the question isn't "Should there be a distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex?"; it's "Should couples be able to sponsor?" Period. And if the answer is "yes," then the answer is "yes" for everybody.
WCT: Do you have a position on marriage?
Dan Seals: Same. I'm pretty boring that way. I apologize. I've been in support of these issues for a long time. Anything that a heterosexual or straight couple should be able to do, I think a gay couple should be able to do. Why should there be degrees of difference? I don't know that we can mandate what churches do, but in the eyes of the law, they should be treated the same. I'm sorry that's boring. I guess it's more interesting to write about if there's some, "Well, under these conditions…" No. Let's get on with it. I should have come up with something snappier to say.
See www.dansealsforcongress.com .
