Dupage Policy Journal

Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) was not surprised to see U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) resort to personal attacks in his recent spat with U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).

“As Rep. Crenshaw indicated, when they can’t beat you, they have to brand you,” Ives, who is challenging Casten in the 6th District, said in a press release. 

Casten had recently labeled Crenshaw as a racist during a dispute that started after Crenshaw challenged the congressman to condemn U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar over what he saw as her anti-semitic remarks.

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove)

"The new Republican, the Navy SEAL with the eyepatch," Casten said of Crenshaw after he sought to add an amendment to a resolution condemning hatred in all forms. "He came up with an amendment to say ‘that illegals can't vote.' And I sat there and I said, ‘Why are you doing that? The reason you're doing that is because you are a racist. Because you are trying to appeal to people who will vote for you if you stand up and oppose brown people.’"

Ives herself has branded her politics as the polar opposite of Casten's, calling him a “ruling class politician” and a “race-baiter.

“Sean Casten and his House Democratic socialist colleagues like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar want to rewrite America's history into something it never was in order to transform America into something it should never be,” she said in another recent press release.

Ives formerly served for six years as state representative in the 42nd District and narrowly lost her 2018 Republican primary run against then-Gov. Bruce Rauner.