8th Congressional District: Krishnamoorthi Wins Primary

hSCHAUMBURG, IL — Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi has defeated two challengers to earn his party's nod in the 8th Congressional District primary race, according to unofficial results. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, with 72.42 percent of precincts reporting, Krishnamoorthi lead with 80 percent of the vote total.

Krishanamoorthi had 48,537 votes over William Olson of Schaumburg who had 8,058 votes and Inam Jassain of Libertyville who had 4,263 votes, according to unofficial results, which does not include early vote total or mail-in vote totals.

The congressional districts includes part of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties, including Barrington Hills, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Elgin, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Schaumburg, South Elgin, Wood Dale and Addison.

No Republicans were in the race.

Krishnamoorthi is currently running uncontested for his third term as the representative for the 8th Congressional District. A Republican candidate has until June 1 to step forward as a challenger in the general election.

• Raja Krishnamoorthi, 8th Congressional District Questionnaire

Krishnaomoorthi stepped into the national spotlight when he served on the House Intelligence Committee tasked with impeaching President Donald Trump.

In recent weeks, as the nation grapples with the coronavirus outbreak, Krishnmamoorthi spoke up at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding the federal government's slow movement on shipping testing kits to public labs. During the hearing, he grilled CDC Director Robert Redfield, according to a Capital News Illinois.

Last week, he wished the federal government would have been more aggressive in combating COVID-19. He also called out the Trump administration during an interview on MSNBC over their lack of transperancy over how many people have been tested so far across the U.S. for COVID-19.

"At what rate are we testing people every day because right now we're not even sure we have the capacity to test at the rate that for instance South Korea is doing which is 10,000 per day," he sad in the MSNBC interview.

Krishnamoorthi, who emigrated with his family to the U.S. from India, supports policy platforms focused on growing and strengthening the middle class by supporting small businesses, rebuilding infrastructure, and protecting Social Security and Medicare. He has also fought to make college more affordable, expand access to paid sick and parental leave, and guarantee equal pay for equal work.

He serves on the Oversight Committee where he is also the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. He is also an assistant Whip and serves on the Steering and Policy Committee.

Krishnamoorthi has also been focused on addressing issues surrounding vaping among teens. He led the first congressional hearing investigating JUUL, which uncovered information that hte company had targeted teens with its product design and advertising.

"This led to the Food and Drug Administration's decision to force JUUL and other vaping companies to end the use of most flavored vapes that are particularly attractive to teens," Krishamoorthi wrote in his questionnaire, which he submitted to Patch.com. "I have also sponsored legislation with Senator (Dick) Durbin and Republican Congressman Peter King that would tax vaping companies to provide $200 million annually for a school-based education program to stop kids from vaping."