Previously having run in the 2020 Republican primary for 116th district representative, Kevin Schmidt’s name will once again appear on the ballot. But this time, he hopes to represent the newly-drawn 114th district. 

The new 114th district includes all or part of Millstadt, Dupo, East St. Louis, Cahokia, Smithton, Freeburg, New Athens, O’Fallon, Mascoutah, New Baden, St. Libory and Lebanon. 

Schmidt said, Illinois as it stands now, is robbing citizens of their money and liberty, and the latter is evidenced by the state’s pandemic response. 

“The state is taking too much in taxes and too much of our freedoms,” Schmidt said. “Illinois is one of the highest taxed states in the country. We also were one of the strictest lockdown states during the pandemic and we still have some of the most onerous mask and vaccine mandates in the nation. The policies coming from Springfield are hurting working families. I am running to be the advocate Illinois families need and deserve.”

He said one main freedom being compromised during the pandemic is parental rights. 

“What is happening in our schools with remote learning, burdensome mask mandates and radical curriculum is something I as a parent am very concerned about,” Schmidt said. “It is not the role of government to co-parent our kids. I believe in parental rights and will stand up for parents as a member of the Illinois General Assembly.” 

Schmidt and his family reside in Millstadt. Over the years as a board-certified chiropractor, Schmidt has built up his practice, Schmidt Chiropractic, in Millstadt and Freeburg. He stayed close to home, as he grew up a short drive away in Belleville. 

He is known as the “$19 chiropractor,” and hopes to bring this philosophy to the state-level. 

“I decided early on that I wanted to lower overhead by eliminating the voluminous paperwork required for insurance claims and so I simplified things by charging a flat $19 per visit,” Schmidt said. “I did not need a government program to figure out how to lower health care costs for my patients. I did it on my own. We tend to complicate issues like health care and education and make the cost of government greater than it should be. I intend to take the same common-sense approach I have successfully used in my private practice to state government. We can’t keep ignoring the structural problems facing our state. We need meaningful solutions now.”

In addition to the state’s COVID response, the pro-life canidate said other actions championed by the left must go – including those regarding energy. 

“Last year, far left lawmakers pushed through one of the most radical energy bills in the country,” Schmidt said. “The Illinois version of the ‘Green New Deal’ will lead to the permanent closure of the Prairie State Energy campus, which means instead of getting power from one of the cleanest coal plants in the nation, Illinois residents will have to import power (at a greater cost) from out of state plants that are not subject to Illinois’ nonsensical energy policies. What our leaders did is completely insane and working families are worse off because of it.”

Many Illinois counties have decreased in population according to the most recent census data. Schmidt said he hopes to improve Illinois’ image by fixing unemployment issues and by making the state “tax friendly” 

“As long as the Democrat majority in the House and the Senate continues to ignore these problems, nothing will be done to address them,” Schmidt said. “We have to make our state more attractive to potential employers. We have to stop the exodus from our state, and we have to stop pretending that the bad policies coming from the House and the Senate are nonfactors in the exodus. People are tired of the status quo, and they want real change, and they want it now.”

To improve safety matters, he hopes to put a stop to policies such as defunding the police, ending cash bail and ending foot pursuits. He believes in the right to bear arms. 

“People’s lives are at risk as the result of these bad policies,” Schmidt said. “I will push for better funding of law enforcement and policies that will keep criminals off the streets. I am all for second chances but when people are a danger to others, they should not be roaming free on our streets.”

The Republican primary takes place June 28. 

LaToya Greenwood (D-East St. Louis) is the current state representative for District 114. She assumed office in 2017.