Clifford Eagleton
Clifford Eagleton is a former 2013 Democratic candidate seeking election to the U.S. House in the special election for the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois. He was one of five Democratic candidate to file by the first in line deadline.[1] Eagleton will appear second on the Democratic primary ballot.[2]
Biography
Eagleton is a retired elementary, high school and college teacher. He is a small business owner.[3]
Campaign themes
2013
Eagleton's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[4]
- JOBS, JOBS, and More JOBS!
- Excerpt: "Cliff is proposing a public works program on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. The Federal government would work in partnership with state and local governments employing those without jobs and returning veterans to rebuild our roads, bridges, schools and other public resources."
- GIVING THE CITIZENS A VOICE
- Excerpt: "Cliff would form a 2nd Congressional District Leadership Council made up of residents of the district. The Council will advise Cliff on issues important to residents and actually give his fellow citizens a “seat at the table” and a “voice” in the process."
- FIXING A BROKEN & UNFAIR ECONOMY
- Excerpt: "While the U.S. government is spending $85 billion a MONTH to help large corporations it is doing little to protect the middle class and those with less. The real challenge is to fundamentally change and improve the economy so it fairly serves ALL Americans, not just a select few."
- REBUILDING AMERICA
- Excerpt: "We cannot be a nation of salesman selling other countries’ goods and services to ourselves. We must aggressively create a new generation of competitive manufacturing, agriculture and research protected from monopoly and corporate abuse."
- AVOIDING BANKRUPTCY
- Excerpt: "The Federal government MUST partner with state and local governments to provide one-time Federal assistance through grants to local governments, school boards and states to bring their budgets under control."
- HELPING AMERICANS ON MAIN STREET
- Excerpt: "We must create fair and effective regulations on “natural monopolies” of essential resources such as gas, electricity and food. A small group of very large corporations control the prices of these vital necessities."
- PROTECTING OUR CONSTITUTION
- Excerpt: "We must honorably address the issues undermining our constitutional self-governance such as political gerrymandering that attempts to create one-party government of the few and privileged, big money’s stranglehold on our elections and the unrestrained concentration of wealth that threatens the very foundation of our country while ignoring the vast majority of Americans who are struggling."
Elections
2013
Eagleton ran in the 2013 special election for the U.S. House, representing Illinois' 2nd District. The election was held to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr.. Eagleton lost in the Democratic primary to Robin Kelly.[5]
Gun control came to the forefront in the race with a tv ad tageting Debbie Halvorson and her prior voting record with respect to guns. The ad came from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Super PAC, Independence USA.[6] Some in the field were upset by this external influence, including Eagleton. In a press release submitted to Ballotpedia he said, "“As a citizen and as a candidate I am outraged and alarmed after viewing the 'super PAC' attack ad last night against one of my opponents. This arrogant, brutish well-polished propaganda is meant to confuse and persuade our citizens with misinformation, thereby corrupting the election.” He went on to speak out against the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, stating that it needs to be overturned or legislation needs to be passed "to protect the integrity of elections and democracy in America."[7]
Democratic Primary
| U.S. House, Illinois District 2 Special Democratic Primary, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
 Robin Kelly |
53.3% | 31,079 | ||
| Debbie Halvorson | 25.1% | 14,650 | ||
| Anthony Beale | 11.1% | 6,457 | ||
| Joyce Washington | 4.4% | 2,563 | ||
| Ernest Fenton | 2.6% | 1,545 | ||
| Anthony Williams | 1.1% | 641 | ||
| Mel Reynolds | 0.8% | 459 | ||
| Clifford Eagleton | 0.4% | 207 | ||
| Fatimah Muhammad | 0.3% | 194 | ||
| Gregory Haynes | 0.2% | 144 | ||
| Larry Pickens | 0.2% | 127 | ||
| John Blyth | 0.2% | 104 | ||
| Victor Jonathan | 0.2% | 91 | ||
| Charles Rayburn | 0.1% | 74 | ||
| Denise Anita Hill | 0% | 4 | ||
| Total Votes | 58,339 | |||
| Source: Results via Illinois State Board of Elections | ||||
Polls
2013
| Illinois' 3rd Congressional District, Democratic primary | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Debbie Halvorson | Toi Hutchinson | Robin Kelly | Napoleon Harris | Mel Reynolds | Anthony Beale | Other | Undecided | Margin of Error | Sample Size | |||||||||
| Normington-Petts (January 8-10) | 16% | 12% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 40% | +/-4.9 | 400 | |||||||||
| GBA Strategies (January 3-7) | 25% | 16% | 15% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 2% | 15% | +/-4.4 | 500 | |||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Clifford + Eagleton + Illinois + House"
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Candidates start filing for Jackson Jr.'s old seat in Congress," January 3, 2013
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Kelly wins lottery for top spot on ballot to replace Jackson Jr.," January 8, 2013
- ↑ Eagleton4Congress.com, "About Cliff," accessed February 20, 2013
- ↑ eagleton4congress.com, "Cliff's Solutions," accessed February 20, 2013
- ↑ AP.org, "Illinois - Summary Vote Results," accessed February 26, 2013
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Halvorson gun views hit in TV ad from Bloomberg super PAC," January 30, 2013
- ↑ Clifford Eagleton press release received via email by Ballotpedia staff on February 4, 2013
