Congressional Candidates Davis, Gill Debate at ISU

Retiring Congressman Tim Johnson's request for 13th Congressional district candidates to halt negative rhetoric is failing to reach the Democratic and Republican candidates.

During a Wednesday night debate at Illinois State University, Democratic candidate David Gill called his opponent, Republican Rodney Davis, a political insider who just held a fundraising event with House majority leader Eric Cantor.

"These people are helping him,” Gill said. “Aetna insurance is pouring money in, the US Chamber of Commerce, made up of large corporations they're helping him, and they, uh aren't doing this out of the goodness of their heart. They're doing this because they expect something in return should he get to Washington DC."  

Later in the debate, Rodney Davis cited Gill's campaign record in response to a question about postal service closings, which, Davis said, hasn't worked yet.

"I don't know when one runs for congress three times in the better part of a decade when they become a career politician, or a career politician wannabe," Davis said.

Both campaigns accuse the other of being the first to run negative television ads. Davis said Gill ran negative ads not five minutes after he became the candidate. Gill said after Johnson's request to halt negative ads, his campaign hadn't run any.

Rodney Davis and David Gill will meet again, along with independent candidate John Hartman, for a debate to be broadcast live on WILL-AM and TV, Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7 PM.