Dupage Policy Journal

Keith Pekau, Illinois' 6th District candidate for U.S. Congress, has a strong history of putting "people over politics," according to State Rep. Tim Ozinga (R-Mokena).

“Keith Pekau is the voice Illinois desperately needs in Congress," Ozinga said in a news release. "I’m proud to endorse him, and I look forward to our state having a strong leader in Washington—a leader who puts people over politics."

According to his campaign website, Pekau earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. from Duke University. He is a decorated Air Force Veteran, having served over 1,500 hours of flight time, including 45 combat sorties and 150 combat hours over Southern Iraq. In his first run for political office in 2017, he defeated an experienced 28-year politician to become the mayor of his hometown of Illinois, Orland Park.

During Pekau's tenure as Mayor of Orland Park, crime was reduced to its lowest levels in over 27 years. In 2020, Orland Park was named the safest city in Illinois by safety.com, as index crimes in the Village dropped 29% during the same year.                   

 Pekau is endorsed by former and current Illinois legislators, including former Illinois State Representatives Jeanne Ives and Margo McDermed, along with Representative Tim Ozinga.

In one term as Mayor of Orland Park, he cut operating expenses by 14%, paid down over $50 million in debt, and lowered property tax rates by 28%.

Experience from starting up a small business in 2003 called, 'GroundsKeeper Landscape Care', allowed Pekau to become a co-founder of Fahrenheit Consulting in 2009, which specializes in helping small businesses develop market growth strategies, his website says.

In response to the question, “Would you support changes in the tax code that would increase or decrease their tax burden? Why?”,  Pekau responded, “You can’t close business and disrupt the supply chain without causing a significant jump in prices. Paying people to stay home instead of working increases labor costs for businesses, which leads to price increases for everyone,” according to primary election questionnaire data.

Additionally, when asked, “Do the rich, defined as the wealthiest 1%, pay enough in taxes?" Pekau told ShawLocal News Network.  “We all pay enough taxes. Federal revenues are 71% higher today than in 2010. Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”

When interviewed on the topic of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, Pekau said, “There are many reasons it’s a bad idea, these people have chosen to take out the loans they’ve made decisions as adults and they should have to pay them back it shouldn’t be up to the people in my district that decided to go to trade school and are a plumber or a carpenter or decided to open their own small business when they were young or are a FedEx driver. It's not up to them to pay back the loans, it’s not up to the people who went to school like I did and paid our own loans back and paid for our own children’s college.”