U.S. House Rep. Brad Schneider faces GOP challenger in bid for 6th term: ‘There is so much at stake’

After five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives serving much of Lake County, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, says he wants to continue improving the lives of the residents and his Republican opponent, Lake Forest resident Jim Carris, hopes for an opportunity to do the same.

Voters in parts of Lake, Cook and McHenry counties will decide whether to return Schneider to Washington or send Carris to represent them there when they cast their ballots in the Nov. 5 general election.

Schneider, 63, said as he seeks his sixth term, “there is so much at stake” and he wants “to continue making a contribution” for the residents of the district. Relationships have developed over the years with a variety of people, he said.

“Across the district, across party lines, people stop me in the street and tell me they appreciate what I’m what I’m doing and how my office has helped them with a problem, or they’re thankful for a position I’ve taken,” he said. “It happens everywhere I go throughout the district.”

Carris, 62, is on leave from his position as managing principal of Colliers, an international real estate consulting and brokerage firm. He has also worked as a real estate and environmental attorney before joining Colliers.

Citing a less-than-effective job by the government in handling its response to the coronavirus pandemic, Carris decided to become more directly involved rather than acting on the periphery. He believes his business experience will help him moving forward.

“I saw small business owners hurt,” he said. “I did not see leadership, and I decided I wanted to do something. I think I can make a difference.”

Listing the economy as the most important issue for the American people, Carris said if he is elected, he would start a bipartisan oversight committee to look at spending, excluding people on the extreme end of both parties.

“We would analyze the federal budget for the wrongful spending without impairing critical services,” he said. “We have to reform Social Security, not for the older folks but for those 35 and under so they can plan a good retirement. We have to protect the aging baby boomers.”

Also seeing the economy as the leading issue in the election, Schneider said Congress must take action to increase economic growth, with a focus on affordable childcare and lowering the cost of healthcare.

“We need to create opportunity for quality, well-paying jobs and improving people’s lives,” he said. “We’re working on making the tax code fair for all Americans, ensuring American workers and American companies can compete in a global economy.”

As people’s rights evaporate with certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions like the Dodds case, Schneider said Congress must act to protect those privileges, particularly women’s rights to reproductive health freedom.

“For the first time in our country’s history the Supreme Court took away people’s rights rather than we assure more rights and freedoms for Americans,” he said. “They took away, rather than expanded, rights of American citizens.”

Though Carris did not comment on the Dodds decision, he said he is pro-choice and does not believe the government should be dictating how women make decisions about whether or how to have children.

“I don’t like being told what to do,” he said. “I don’t want the government to do that either. It should be a decision between a woman and her doctor, or a woman and her partner.”

Enhancing public safety is also on Carris’ list of important issues. He incorporates his position on gun violence into the overall effort to keep people safe. Giving police the tools to de-escalate a situation before it turns violent is a key to making the streets safer.

“We have to enforce our laws,” he said. “The first thing we have to do is try de-escalation. Police should become well-versed in de-escalation policy. I’m a Second Amendment guy. We have to keep guns out of the hands of bad people.”

After the 2022 Highland Park Fourth of July shooting, in which seven people were killed and dozens more injured, Schneider said he helped lead an effort in Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. He did not get that, but he said he helped pass the Safer Communities Act which put curbs on gun violence for the first time in years.

“I know we can do more like universal background checks, like getting an assault weapons ban and gun trafficking laws, absolutely,” he said.

With the country’s immigration situation unchanged for years, Schneider said he believes reform is in order. He said he has pushed for a revamp since he was first elected in 2012, and continues to back appropriate efforts.

“We need to fix our immigration system,” he said.  “We should make sure we know who’s coming into the country, and that those who should not be here are kept out. If they don’t get in, (they should be) quickly removed.”

As the son of an immigrant, Carris said he supports immigration, but there must be controls to ensure an orderly process for bringing people from elsewhere because, “immigration is the lifeblood of our country.” He would start with border control.

“I would close off the southern border immediately,” he said. “We have to take an inventory of who is here. We have to figure out who is here and help them if we can.”

Joe Severino, Schneider’s 2022 Republican opponent, is running for the office as a write-in candidate.

Early voting is underway at 18 locations scattered throughout all portions of Lake County and will continue through Nov. 4. Vote-by-mail ballots can be deposited in the U.S. mail or drop boxes located in parts of the county and at each early voting site.

The 10th District extends along the Wisconsin state line from Lake Michigan to just west of Hebron in McHenry County. The Lake County portion hugs the shoreline south to Lake Cook Road, and continues west to the eastern part of Buffalo Grove. From Buffalo Grove, the district goes northwest on a jagged path through Mundelein, Fox Lake and into McHenry County. It also includes portions of northeast Cook County.