The CREDO SuperPAC — which was involved in successful efforts opposing U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh last year — is jumping into the 2nd Congressional District race to replace Jesse Jackson Jr.
Like the other political action committees that have taken interest in the campaign, CREDO is targeting candidates Debbie Halvorson and Toi Hutchinson, both Democrats who have past A ratings with the NRA.
CREDO is using a “data-driven field campaign to ensure voters know about Halvorson and Hutchinson’s pro-NRA records. CREDO Super PAC is working with Progressive USA Voters to add a strong ground game that will reach voters through face-to-face conversations urging Illinoisans to vote against Halvorson and Hutchinson.”
“The NRA will not win another seat in Congress, especially not in Chicago where gun violence is ravaging local communities,” Becky Bond, President of CREDO Super PAC, said in a statement. “CREDO Super PAC is deploying a field campaign to ensure Chicago voters know that both Halvorson and Hutchinson have pledged their allegiance to the NRA, not the voters of Illinois’s second Congressional District.”
CREDO joins Progressive Kick as well as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s SuperPAC in their investment in the 2nd congressional district. Tactically, it’s a good investment to make in a short election cycle that began for all intents and purposes in December for the Feb. 26 primary special election.
CREDO complains that Halvorson, who opposes a ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazine clips, and “has raked in $10,000 from the NRA.” And, they say Hutchinson, a state senator, opposed state legislation to restrict semi-automatic weapons, as well as increased reporting of lost and stolen firearms.
Hutchinson has since changed her stance on these issues, now supporting a ban on semi-automatic weapons and signing onto gun control legislation in the statehouse.
Candidate Robin Kelly, who has made guns her main issue in the race, has touted her “F” rating by the NRA.
Kelly, who was chief of staff to then-Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, served in that office in the years that the state invested more than $7 million into Alliant Tech Systems — the largest ammunitions manufacturer in the world. Kelly says she was far removed from making any decisions regarding that investment.