Christopher Howick informs voters in Illinois House District 88 that Jill Blair isn’t the only candidate in race

BLOOMINGTON (Heartland Newsfeed) — With recent increased attention directed toward Democrat Jill Blair’s declared intention to run for state representative in Illinois House District 88, Christopher Howick, a Libertarian from Bloomington who declared his candidacy on May 10, released a press statement citing that he was the first to declare for the contested seat in 2018.

“I applaud Jill’s decision to stand and run against Republican Keith Sommer in District 88, however it needs to be noted that I have been declared publicly as a candidate since May 10,” Howick noted in his statement. His candidacy had been announced on that date during a business meeting of the McLean County Libertarian Party.

“In the research I undertook when deciding to run for this seat, I found that Representative Sommer has not had a challenge of any kind in a very long while,” Howick continued in his release. “The State of Illinois had an incredible 62% of legislative seats that went uncontested in last year’s general election, one of the highest rates in the country. This is not a healthy way to conduct matters; if legislators are unchallenged, then they are not held accountable. This has been a large thrust of my campaign from day one”.

Howick also questions whether the districts citizens and voters want more of the same. “Illinois has suffered under machine politics and political point scoring for too long. More of the same is not the answer. District 88 and the State of Illinois need legislators who are free of machine politics and who stand up for the people of Illinois. Libertarians are in a unique position to offer an end to this as the two old parties have run roughshod over the people of Illinois for too long.”

Howick, a Bloomington resident for the past 11 years, is originally from England and moved to the United States in 1999 when he moved to Indiana. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2015. He currently works as a rideshare driver and previously worked as a truck driver.

Howick was politically active for many years in England and became active with the Libertarian Party last year after two completely unsuitable major party candidates were nominated (the Democratic Party’s Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Republican Party’s Donald J. Trump) and became active with the campaign of Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. Howick currently serves as precinct committeeman in Bloomington and as vice chairman of the McLean County Libertarian Party.

Jake Leonard, Executive Editor-In-Chief

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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