(gentle music) (camera beeping) (gentle music continues) (upbeat music) (tone beeps) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Meet the Candidates" ahead of the March 19th Illinois primary election.

I'm Jak Tichenor.

We're joined by Preston Nelson of Lebanon, who is one of two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for US House of Representatives in Illinois' 12th District.

Preston, this is a large district.

Can you give us kind of the basic boundary overlines of the district?

- Sure, Jak, and thanks for having me on.

You are right.

This is the largest, most rural district in Illinois.

It spans from the Mississippi River on the Missouri border all the way east now, since they redid the maps two years ago, to Indiana, the Indiana border, the Ohio River goes all the way up to Effingham and encompasses all the territories south.

It also encompasses new territory on the Northwestern side, including say, Carlisle, Centralia, and of course, all the way south to Cairo and Metropolis.

- Exactly.

Tell me a little bit about yourself so our viewers can get acquainted with you.

You've run for Congress and Illinois treasurer before, so you're not exactly a newcomer to Illinois politics.

- I am not.

I may be the second-most politically experienced guy in, you know, on either side of this election.

Despite my youth, I'm also the youngest, but I have been an activist for the people trying to make differences to represent real people in our nation's capital for years.

Special interests have really taken the show and run away with things, and we gotta regain our control as people.

Myself, personally, I have run in numerous parties.

I don't consider myself a party guy.

I would take the entire two-party system, throw it out the window if I had the choice, but I'm running on the Democratic primary, and I think that I support democratic values of democracy and real representation and fairness in the electoral system more than anyone else.

And I'd be happy to speak and elaborate more on those points, but I also, economics, finances.

I'm a numbers guy, even in my professional job.

I crunch numbers all day every day.

And that's what led to my run for treasurer a couple years ago, because our state is in dire financial straits, we really need honest financial people to assess the situations and see where all the money's going and be better stewards for the people.

- Along those lines, you're also listed in your bio as being director of Martin Solar.

Can you tell me about that company?

- That is correct.

I started this business a little over a year ago.

We formed out of a 40-year-old roofing business, actually.

And we offer solar to all of them.

We also innovate within the solar realm.

I have patented a new style of solar panels that I'm working on prototyping.

We've also patented a new style of shingle mounts that attach solar to shingle roofs without putting holes in your shingles.

So unlike anything else on the market, and actually putting those holes in shingles is the number one reason why most homeowners won't consider residential solar, and we have a solution.

- You were talking a little bit earlier about your political philosophy.

When it comes to the political spectrum, how would you describe yourself?

Left, centrist, right of center, or where do you come down on that?

- I consider myself a classical American moderate.

Way back when Thomas Jefferson, you know, both parties actually traced their historic roots, Republicans and Democrats to Thomas Jefferson.

He founded what was called the, he called it the Democratic Republican Party, and he did that actually, you know, they say democracy isn't found in our Constitution, and that's true.

The word's not in there, but it's an important word, so important that Thomas Jefferson used it to label the Democratic Republican Party.

And the purpose of his party was to protect, maintain, preserve, promote democracy through the Republican system, or a republic form of government where we elect representatives, and the representatives are all about maintaining the power and representation of the people.

And Thomas Jefferson formed that party really in order to counter the Federalists.

The Federalists wanted to centralize as much power as possible in Washington.

They wanted to roll over the entire nation from Washington and Thomas Jefferson and the anti-Federalists saw the perils of that type of leadership, and they really wanted a decentralized government, independent states where people, individuals had as much power as possible over their own lives, and so that's why he formed that party to counter the conglomeration of power in Washington.

And things have kind of taken a total turn now.

In some ways, we still have one big uni-party.

There's a lot that the democratic establishment and the Republican establishment that they have in common that I would argue works against the will of the American people, and it almost seems as if both of those parties now actually want to centralize power in Washington to, you know, control the entire country as they see fit.

Whereas there are people, I'd say, in both parties that would like to decentralize the power, return it to the people, and act in accordance to the original intent of the founders.

- You talked a bit about your political philosophy.

What qualities of yours would make you an effective member of Congress?

- Well, you know, to a certain degree that's something that other people have to decide for themselves.

I've never been one to tout myself and promote myself.

I think of myself as an honest person.

I am not willing to accept corporate funds for my race.

I think that ending Citizens United and getting the big corporate money out of politics would be a huge progress in the right direction for reclaiming representation for the real people.

Because again, the special interests, they control everything, and they do that by bankrolling establishment party candidates and incumbents on either side of the aisle.

So if we could get big money out of politics, then that would go a long way for taking it back for the people.

You know, I'm not independently mega-wealthy right now, but I'm not lured by money.

I'm not in this for money.

I'm not in it for attention.

If there were someone else that was willing to run in this Democratic primary, I might have well supported them, too.

It doesn't have to be me doing this, but to be honest, I got into this because originally there was going to be nobody running in this democratic primary.

It would've been two Republicans versus zero Democrats, and so I got in to give people another option, and again, to hopefully represent the people.

- As you look around this district, and as you mentioned, it is the largest rural district in the state, in downstate Illinois.

What do you think is the biggest issue facing residents of the 12th Congressional District, and how would you deal with it?

- Well, I mean, the biggest, I'd say there's a number of big issues.

Inflation now is a huge issue, and it's really been an issue for years.

It's just that it hasn't been so apparent to the general public.

I've been speaking about inflation for many years, before it was a hot button issue, and people can see, you know, some proof there that I've been on top of the issues when other people should have been on top of them.

If we had more leaders that were more keen to these issues, we might not have the inflationary problems we do today.

Inflation is a huge one because it hurts everyone, especially the middle class and the lower class, who have trouble buying groceries now.

Inflation is an issue for retirees trying to retire, people on limited incomes, even people just entering the workforce, needing to work for a living wage.

inflation takes away from all of those people.

It takes away from people building towards retirement, you know, and inflation at even 3%, which is the federal reserve's target rate, that works against people in the workforce trying to save for their retirement.

That's 3% less they're getting on interest every year for their savings.

And inflation is just a nightmare.

Even John Maynard Keynes, he's the founder of Keynesian Economics.

You know, a lot of people, they think bad of him for his quotes, but I almost wonder if he wasn't really warning us about the perils of long-term inflation.

But we need to get that under control.

We need to stabilize our currency so that our economy can work well, so that people don't need to worry about inflation.

'Cause the average person, they don't want to have to think about inflation on a daily basis.

They just want to, you know, live happy, healthy lives with their families, and look forward to a safe retirement someday.

And we need leaders that are, you know, keen to the economy so that can happen.

- A lot of this, of course, has to do with market forces and how the economy works.

What role does Congress actually have to do with controlling inflation?

- Well, the Congress has kind of taken upon themselves to have the ultimate role.

You know, the Federal Reserve exists, but it only exists by mandate by the Congress.

So the Congress kind of gives their responsibility to the Federal Reserve, but the buck ultimately comes to Congress, who can change everything if, you know, the 435 people so desire.

So it is the Congress, and you know, even within the Federal Reserve, there are a lot of figures out there that aren't what really meets the eye.

The one thing I learned while studying back years ago is that the modern statistics for inflation, they don't actually take into account the actual prices of goods and services.

Inflation is actually calculated based on aggregate spending in the economy.

And so as people spend more or less in certain sectors, they say inflation is more or less in those sectors.

But what happens, let me ask you, when we enter a recession?

People tend to spend less money, they budget, and so it looks like people are spending less money for things, and in fact, they are, and so the calculators say that it's less inflation because people aren't spending as much.

When in reality, prices continue going up, and it's not shown in the actual numbers because, you know, the calculations are all off.

So that's how we have inflation at say 8% in a year, but the prices of certain goods and services like milk and eggs practically doubled in that time.

- I wanna turn to some other issues, Preston.

- Sure.

Senate Democrats and Republicans put together a comprehensive plan on addressing the migrant crisis on the nation's southern border, but Speaker Johnson and Presumptive Presidential Nominee Donald Trump rejected the plan.

What kind of border protection plan would you endorse if you're elected to Congress?

And be as specific as you can be.

- Sure.

I would endorse anything that's common sense.

Obviously, we need to secure the border against the cartels, the unscrupulous immigrants that are constantly coming across.

And there's no reason that we can't secure that border.

We have border patrol people, we have an adequate force, we have adequate funding.

There's no reason it can't happen.

I argue that the border is primarily a political issue, where it's basically, you know, immigrants are treated like pawns by the establishment on both sides.

And we need to get past the partisan politics, and really come together and get a simple solution that simply works.

We gotta secure the border.

At the same time, immigration, legal immigration needs to be simply overhauled and simplified.

We don't need a big complex process.

We need a simple system where honest immigrants are able to come here and work.

Immigration, you know, it's a double-edged sword.

We need to ensure that it's cutting in the right direction, but cutting in the right direction, it is a huge advantage for us.

It's an advantage for the United States that most countries do not have.

We have an incredible workforce wanting to come here and contribute to our economy.

And if we can streamline the immigration process for work visas, for student visas, which we should do, then we'll have a huge economic boom that will actually be a positive outcome for inflation.

- [Jak] Who should be allowed into the United States, and what should their pathway to citizenship actually be?

- People with clean records should be allowed.

- What about the Dreamers have spent a lot of their lives in the United States and are kind of stuck in a limbo when it comes to citizenship?

What should happen for the dreamers?

- There's only one viable solution for the dreamers, and that is permanent residency, at a bare minimum.

- Our governor, J.B. Pritzker has called on the federal government to provide direct financial assistance to help states like Illinois deal with thousands of asylum seekers who have been arriving by plane or bus for months now.

What role should the federal government play in actually helping states foot the bill when it comes to dealing with these folks when they arrive?

- Well, unfortunately, you know, some states took their own prerogative to pass laws that, you know, I would argue were intended to upend federal immigration policy.

And so for states that did that, you know, it's kind of on their end to take care of their own finances.

- Let's turn to the economy again.

Illinois' gross domestic product has surged through the trillion dollar mark in the past couple of years, making Illinois one of the largest economic powerhouses in the state of Illinois, but as you mentioned earlier, a lot of those benefits haven't actually trickled down to folks in the 12th district where, you know, folks are dealing with unemployment, they're dealing with housing and food insecurity.

What's the state doing wrong and what could we do better to bring about new business opportunities and bring industry back to the 12th district?

- Sure, we can, there are a lot of opportunities right now.

Unfortunately, the wealth is concentrated in the northern part of the state, specifically Chicago and the other big northern cities, and what attention Southern Illinois does get is generally limited to agricultural producers and farmers.

Of course, you know, we have people all over the economic spectrum down here, and everyone deserves fair treatment by the legislators.

And you know, whether they're teachers, doctors, policemen, firefighters or just, you know, people working in gas stations and the car shops, everyone deserves equal and fair representation.

Ultimately, the economy, there are a lot of positives, and solar is one realm where southern Illinois booms, and I personally have a hand in this, and whether I get to continue boosting it, you know, from a more powerful position, or if I just maintain my position here at Martin Solar, then I'm going to keep expanding the economy.

There are, you know, whether it's jobs or the industry that supports solar, the sky's the limit.

I want to bring, and I'm working in fact, to bring silicon refining to southern Illinois, which is a huge, it's not just, doesn't just pertain to solar, it pertains to the CHIPS Act.

One hurdle for silicon refining is that it is incredibly energy-intense, but we have free energy now.

We can install solar on top of all of these facilities.

We can cleanly make all the energy we need to refine silicon, and we can employ hundreds and hundreds of people and there's no reason we can't open these facilities all over the district.

And if I have to single heavenly do it, I will.

- How does transportation infrastructure fit into all this?

The southern part of the state of Illinois, it's kind of the crossroads of the nation.

When you look at the interstate highways that go through here, north, south, east and west, railroad transportation and the like, what specific projects are you thinking about in terms of transportation that could help spur economic development in the southern part of the state?

- For sure, and that is something that the government legitimately needs to focus on.

And if, you know, once we can reign in some of the special interests that take money out of our local communities and send them to foreign interests, then we can really invest more in our own infrastructure.

We can maintain our interstates better.

Southern Illinois, actually, the interstate between Marion and Mount Vernon has a major overhaul that's been underway for years.

They're expanding that, adding additional lanes, and that's wonderful.

That should have been done a long time ago.

It was unfortunate that it took a lot of, you know, disasters in the transportation wrecks to really finally bring about this infrastructure boost, but it's finally happening, and we need more of it.

You know, I think that we should be able to fund lane increases all over the place so that trucks have more, so it's safer for motorists, especially the truckers, who have really limited space, especially, you know, we're always working on the infrastructure.

Interstates always have to be worked on, and when you're down to one lane everywhere, that really creates a lot of dangers.

And so by having three lanes everywhere, that will ensure that we always have a more safer transportation routes for the motorists.

- I wanna turn to education.

Start with K through 12.

The federal government government plays a small role in addressing the quality of public education in the state of Illinois.

Most of the funding comes from the local level and the state level for K through 12.

A lot of the districts, though, in the school districts in the 12th District are still catching up in terms of per-pupil spending, and they have a lot of poor educational outcomes and high dropout rates.

What role should the federal government play in improving K through 12 education in the state?

- Well, I know that there are federal funds that do come to the state.

Myself, I would prefer that those monies that leave our local communities to go to, you know, whether the centralized state government or the federal government, we should leave those in the local communities so that they can spend the monies more efficiently without them needing to come back in only fractions of what originally left.

I think when you let local communities have a more powerful decision-making in how all the monies that are originating in their communities are spent, you have better outcomes.

Additionally, we need to focus more on, you know, the underlying factors that affect a lot of this.

The economy is one.

One issue with Southern Illinois is that with our lower economic rates here, we have, honestly, a lot of hopelessness.

We have a lot of drug problems, and that's because historically there's not been a lot of opportunity, there's not a lot of people focused on southern Illinois bringing the opportunity here, and so people are looking at, you know, rather hopeless situations, and they don't have bright futures, they don't see bright futures.

They can have bright futures, they just need to have, you know, more investment in the communities so that they're apt to really work towards a better future.

- What about higher education?

Illinois for years has been kind of a gross exporter of college talent to other states where folks are pursuing their higher educations.

What role does Congress have in stopping the brain drain and keeping Southern Illinois' best and brightest back here at home?

- Well, that's really, that's an issue for Illinois.

And Illinois has the resource to do it, and they just need to focus better.

We have some of the country's best colleges down here.

We have Southern Illinois University, which has one of the nation's best aviation programs, and there's no reason for this brain drain to exist.

I think that getting the local leaders here in southern Illinois and in Illinois, they can solve those issues themselves.

And if I'm not able to affect the national and international issues, then maybe you'll see me running for one of these state issues in the future so I can affect that.

Hey, I saw that we're short on time, and one thing I really want to hit on is the chronic disease epidemic in our entire country.

America spends over $4 trillion every year on chronic diseases, treating chronic diseases, and this is one of the biggest economic drains for our country, and this is incredibly preventable.

We have a number of pollutants, toxins, that the regulatory agencies have allowed into our food products, into our household items, that need to get out, whether it's microplastics, PFAS, trans fats that are not at all a natural food additive, shouldn't even be called fats, these are ruining lives and ruining livelihoods, and savings for people, they're bankrupting people and our nation, and we gotta get a hold on this.

This is not receiving nearly the attention that it deserves.

I'm very thankful for Robert F. Kennedy.

He's an independent running for president, and he's the only person I can see at the national level who is really willing to tackle this chronic disease epidemic.

It's something I've been talking about for six, eight years now, and we need to get it under hand so that we can really have not just an economically healthy, but a healthy, you know, healthy-healthy, society of healthy people.

Healthy people are happy people, and when people are happy, they are more hopeful for the future and everything benefits.

- As we draw to a close here, the district that you're running in the 12th District has been in Republican hands for some years now, as is a lot of downstate Illinois.

How can a democratic candidate for Congress actually win in the 12th Congressional District, and what's your strategy?

- Well, Jak, I wanna challenge what you just said, because I would argue that this is not in Republican hands.

This is in no party's hands.

The biggest electorate, the biggest voting group is Did Not Vote.

Most people do not vote.

If everyone comes out to vote, then the establishment loses across the country.

And that's always been something that I focused on, is inspiring people who have no hope in the political process to give us a shot.

You know, for some 49% of people did not vote in the last presidential election, and so if we can inspire non-voters, first-time voters, the next generation to get involved, we can change everything.

So let me just say: vote.

No matter who you vote for, vote for somebody, and I hope you do some research and choose an anti-establishment candidate, 'cause we get to take back the nation for the people.

- So voter turnout's the key?

- Voter turnout is the key that way, you know, it's not about Democrats or Republicans, it's about the people.

When I was petitioning for the first time, I met a Vietnam War veteran who was so disgusted with how he was treated and saw his brothers treated coming home from Vietnam, he refused to participate in the process.

And it's people like him that, you know, I want to represent everyone, but people like him tug at my heart.

(upbeat music) - Preston Nelson, candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 12th Congressional District.

Thanks so much for sharing your time on "Meet the Candidates."

- Thank you Jak.

You have a great day.

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