At Peoria Debate, Challenger Nolley on the Attack as Incumbent LaHood Touts Record

PEORIA, Ill. — Democratic challenger Paul Nolley used a candidate forum with Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood to paint the incumbent as a member of the Washington elite, more concerned with currying favor with special interests and corporations than helping people in his district.

LaHood, who has represented the area since 2015, largely focused on legislative achievements that benefited his district and at times both stood tall with the Trump administration and disagreed with it.

The forum, presented by WTVP PBS and the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria, was previously recorded and aired Thursday night. It is available to stream on demand and on the PBS app. The election is set for Nov. 3, with early voting already underway.

"Government has failed regular people"

Nolley, 37, is a political newcomer who said entrenched politicians have not made voters' lives better.

"I was raised by working class people, and I voted for both Democrats and Republicans. And I've seen how government has failed regular people like us. This will only change when regular people like us stand up, fight back and change our government to serve us, not a small number of elites, protect our families, not the entrenched political class," he said.

He then leveled his sights on LaHood. "On his watch, the national debt has doubled. Our country is more divided than ever. And now he's voted for the tariffs and this trade war. He's voted for the Iran war six times. These decisions have cost your family thousands of dollars."

LaHood voted no during six roll call votes requesting the removal of U.S. forces and hostilities from Iran. He also voted against a largely symbolic measure that would have ended a national emergency declaration allowing the president to impose tariffs on Canada, despite strong vocal opposition to using tariffs to pressure allies.

$270 million in district funding

LaHood touted what he has accomplished for his constituents, who represent a large swath across Central Illinois including parts of Bloomington-Normal and Peoria. He said he has brought $270 million back from Washington over the past six years, including $4 million for Trillium Mental Health in Peoria, as well as helping police in Rockford, helping to build a new YMCA in Morris, and helping to build out a nursing simulation lab at Illinois State University's Mennonite College of Nursing.

He also cited endorsements from trade unions, the National Federation of Independent Business, business leaders, and numerous police departments and police unions.

The format of the forum was question and answer, so there was no direct dialogue between the candidates.

Social Security

Questioning started with Social Security, and how to address the anticipated shortfall in 2032 or 2033.

LaHood said that issue has not been addressed effectively by either party over the past 50 years. He advocated for what he called a bipartisan proposal to fully protect benefits for those 55 and older, but to form a "debt commission" to look at how to address future funding and benefits for younger Americans.

"We need to keep it intact, but it's going to take tough political judgment and decisions to make that happen. I'm committed to doing that," LaHood said.

Nolley said benefits should not be touched, but that raising FICA taxes, an income-based contribution to Medicare and Social Security, for people making $250,000 a year or more would fund the program for another 75 years.

Calling Social Security the "crown jewel" of American domestic policy, he said, "We have to protect Social Security, not cut it down, not make it more complicated. Make sure that we're doing something, and a commission is just another way to say he doesn't want to do anything about it, doesn't want to take a tough vote."

Data centers and renewable energy

Nolley called for federal data center regulation while LaHood said local governments were in the best position to regulate to their specific situations. Nolley said such federal rules should ensure data centers do not drive up the cost of energy for communities, and that they should ensure clarity around water use.

LaHood agreed about transparency and energy use, saying he voted on the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed the House and now goes to the Senate. The bill requires state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider implementing a standard to hold certain large-load customers, explicitly including data centers, responsible for the costs of needed electricity infrastructure upgrades.

LaHood added that it is important that the U.S. not lose the "strategic competition" with China around AI and quantum. "It is existential for the future of this country that we win the AI and quantum race, but it has to be done the right way. The right way is working with locals to get that done."

Asked about the state's climate and energy goals, which mandate being carbon-free by 2050, as well as the current national direction, Nolley was firmly in line with pursuing renewable energy. "If we didn't have these renewable energy sources right now, our energy costs would be even higher than they already are," he said.

LaHood supported renewable energy, but called for an "all of the above" approach, including biofuels along with nuclear, solar and wind.

Healthcare

The pair were asked how to address issues around rural health care. Moderators noted that three rural hospitals in Illinois have closed since 2015, and numerous others are at risk because of Medicaid cuts and low reimbursement rates from private insurance companies.

LaHood voted to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which opponents of the bill said would harm rural hospitals. In his remarks, he touted a $50 billion fund called the Rural Health Transformation Program, which allocated $1 billion toward strengthening healthcare in rural areas of Illinois. He also said more competition was key to lowering the cost of healthcare.

"Obamacare did not work. All of the promises of Obamacare: 'You're going to have more options. It's going to bring competition.' None of that came to fruition," he said.

Nolley pinned blame on the Medicaid cuts, noting that LaHood voted for those cuts. He also called for reinstating Obamacare subsidies. "I've met people who have to drop their health insurance because they can no longer afford it. This is shameful," he said.

Both agreed the solution centered on curtailing waste, fraud and abuse, but their definitions were very different. LaHood, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, centered on a series of purported Medicaid fraud cases in Minnesota. He also said drug companies and insurers play a role. "It starts with getting rid of fraud, waste and abuse," he said.

Nolley said fraud exists within Medicare Advantage, a Medicare-like plan offered by private insurance companies. He also said the current healthcare system is overly complicated. "It is one of the most complex, expensive and inefficient systems that we have or that exists in the entire world," he said. He said the solution is a national, single-payer healthcare system "that is not connected to your job," that he said would simplify and save trillions of dollars.

Foreign policy

LaHood, who has previously stated he wants to see the president find an off-ramp to the war in Iran, firmly supported it, saying the U.S. has succeeded in eliminating Iran's ballistic missiles and nuclear capability, adding that their navy has been "destroyed."

"The cancer they are in the Middle East is gone for now," LaHood said. He said action there was long overdue. "Presidents for 50 years have said they're going to go after Iran."

Nolley called it a "disaster." He said many of LaHood's claims were not true. "We, of course, have the worst of it, which is 19 of our service members killed in a war that has achieved nothing for our country except raise your prices, destabilize the global economy, create greater friction between us and our allies," Nolley said.

Both men said tariffs had "strategic" uses to protect specific industries, and both acknowledged, to varying degrees, that the Trump administration's broad-stroke tariffs were misguided.

According to Nolley, "We need to be using those precise tariffs to protect our critical industries, our industrial base, not this chaotic ChatGPT-produced tariff regime that is driving up prices by thousands of dollars."

LaHood said tariffs should be used to go after "bad actors," such as China, North Korea, Russia and Iran, but questioned their utility in dealing with allies. He said he supported the Supreme Court decision that blanket tariffs cannot be predicated on national security. He avoided criticizing the Trump administration directly, instead pointing to an instance where he succeeded in persuading the administration to remove tariffs on Morocco so fertilizer could be shipped there.

"I'll continue to advocate for reduction of tariffs in certain commodities and industries that will help agriculture, help manufacturing and help the people that I represent," he said.

Immigration

The pair split down party lines on immigration. LaHood said border crossings were down 98%. At the same time, he said he is sponsoring a bill that would increase legal immigration, noting that immigrants have become some of "our best citizens."

They sparred, with LaHood saying Nolley wanted to "open the border," something Nolley denied. He called many of LaHood's statements lies, adding that ICE raids in American cities sent the wrong message. "We have seen, of course, our citizens be shot in the street by a masked federal force. This should raise alarm bells for everyone across the political spectrum," Nolley said.

He accused Republicans of declining to engage in comprehensive immigration reform. "Republicans stopped it in its tracks every single time," Nolley said.

Other questions

Questions also included discussions around in-person town hall meetings versus virtual, and license plate reading cameras such as Flock cameras. Nolley chided LaHood for declining in-person town halls, while LaHood cited security concerns and the opportunity to reach up to 60,000 people with telephone town halls.

"I come back every weekend to my district," LaHood said, saying he takes meetings in district offices and is "as accessible as possible."

LaHood, a former prosecutor, said Congress is looking into license plate reader regulations, adding the cameras have been able to solve serious crimes including at least two murders in Bloomington. LaHood pointed out how he secured federal funding for Bloomington Police Department's Real-time Crime Center. "Should there be guidance? Should there be strictions? Of course there should," he said. Nolley acknowledged they had a place, but called the way the cameras' use is evolving "truly frightening," from a privacy perspective.

"There's probably no way in and out of your community without your movement being tracked. That's not American, folks. That is not what people want," he said.

Both agreed that they did not support the White House's attempt to ban CNN, MS Now, and Politico. They also both voiced support for measures that would ban lawmakers from purchasing publicly traded stocks in an effort to limit their ability to profit from insider information.