Rep. Brad Schneider, Businessman Jim Carris Tout Centrist Credentials In 10th District

WAUKEGAN, IL — As the race for the 119th Congress heads into the home stretch, the two candidates on the ballot in Illinois' 10th District are making their final pitch to voters.

Incumbent Brad Schneider (D-Highland Park) is facing a challenge in his bid for a sixth term in the House from first-time candidate Jim Carris (R-Lake Forest), an attorney and commercial real estate executive.

Both candidates have sought to portray themselves as problem solvers who can reach across the aisle.

This year marks the second congressional election since the decennial redistricting extended the 10th Congressional District west into McHenry County and north to the Wisconsin border.

And just as in the election two years ago, Schneider has not debated his Republican opponent.

At the time, the incumbent said he did not want to provide a platform to Lake Forest resident Joe Severino, who is running again this year — this time as a write-in candidate.

While Carris has declined to say whether he supports his party's nominee for president, Severino has endorsed former President Donald Trump.

Schneider has not only endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, he has campaigned on behalf of his party's nominee in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Michigan.

At an online candidate forum hosted by the Daily Herald earlier this month, Schneider said he had been open to debating Carris. He suggested members of the League of Women Voters had opted not to organize a candidate forum this year due to safety concerns.

Schneider touted his role in authoring the Sustainable Skies Act, which provides a tax credit for sustainable aircraft fuel, the Securing Our Schools Act, a bipartisan bill to authorize federal grants for classroom panic buttons, and the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses, or DEFEND, Act, which required the Biden administration to come up with a feasibility study for integrating the air defenses of Israel, Iraq, Egypt and Arabian monarchies allied with the U.S.

The Highland Park Democrat also cited the federal dollars he has earmarked for the district and his increasing leadership and influence among House Democrats and in the Congress overall, saying that he is considered a "thought leader" on tax policy and intellectual property protection on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Carris said he had taken a leave of absence from his job leading the Chicago office of commercial real estate firm Colliers to run for office, saying his family had "no income" over the past year but they committed to his campaign on behalf of everyone in the district.

He pledged to approach his three biggest priorities, national security, public safety and the economy, from a perspective of "independence, compassion and common sense."

The Lake Forest Republican also said he intended to push for lower taxes, a smaller government, energy independence and a closed border.

"I'm also concerned that the American way of life is in danger, seeing the rise of socialism from the far left and deterioration of our freedoms," Carris said.

During the forum, Carris twice claimed that Schneider had voted with the "far left" of the Democratic Party 97 percent of the time.

"You can look it up!" he said.

When asked for evidence to support that claim, a Carris campaign representative indicated it could be supported by an analysis of the Schneider's more than 1,100 votes on record with the House Clerk but declined to provide it.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Schneider had voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100 percent of the time in the first two years of his presidency.

Carris and Schneider were both asked what the U.S. government is doing right and what it is doing with regard to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Schneider said he wished the administration had given F-16s and more advanced weapons to Ukraine earlier in the war, and warned that, if Russia defeats Ukraine, it would put U.S. troops and NATO allies bordering Ukraine "toe-to-toe with Russian Troops."

Carris said the U.S. should be both "unwavering" in its support for Ukraine and more "measured" and "careful about it" to avoid a wider conflict.

With regard to Israel, he said Biden was "waffling" in his support for Israel.

"There's no excuse for us, as the United States government, not to demand the return of the hostages before we engage in any further discussions in the region," Carris said, before offering his recollection of a famous quotation from former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, which later Schneider stepped in to correct.

"The problem as I see it is, we've released the sanctions on Iran, who is the funder, through these proxy states, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. If we cut off the oil revenues from Iran, and include sanctions, and not send them money — that is the cause of most of the disruption in the last three years and that is the support of the current administration and the Democratic government that is in place," Carris said.

"The U.S. is not sending Iran any money," Schneider said. "I think it's clear that Mr. Carris doesn't have an understanding—"

"We have. We have," Carris said. "We have."

In September 2023, the Biden administration agreed to unfreeze $5.9 billion in cash that South Korea owed Iran for oil that the Koreans had purchased prior to the imposition of U.S. sanctions in exchange for the release of five Americans imprisoned in Iran for years.

American officials said the money would be held in restricted accounts that could only be spent on medicine, food and other permitted humanitarian uses, according to the Associated Press.

Carris has been endorsed by former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, former U.S. Rep. Bob Dold, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, former Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger, three members of the McHenry County board and the mayor of Lincolnshire — but no notable organizations, according to campaign representatives.

The Republican nominee said he gets more criticism from people in the far right of the Republican Party that he does from Democrats.

Endorsements for Schneider include the Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Journal & Topic Newspapers, as well as about two dozen other organizations, including major labor unions, reproductive rights and gun control advocacy groups and pro-Israel political action committees.

Schneider is currently the vice chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition and is campaigning to become the chair of the group, which is composed of nearly half of House Democrats and advocates for pro-business and bipartisan policies.

The incumbent Democrat noted during the newspaper forum that he has been winning by growing margins over the past decade, crediting it to his appeal to Republican and independent voters.

"I was the first member of our congressional delegation to endorse President Biden in 2020 and I was one of the first in the country to call on President Biden to pass the torch," he said. "I make hard decisions. I'm willing to stick my neck out, and I'm willing to do what the right thing to do to represent the people of the 10th."