John Hursey Jr.

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John Hursey Jr.

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 17, 2020

Personal

Profession

English teacher

Contact

Campaign website

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John Hursey Jr. (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 15th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 17, 2020.

Hursey completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

John Hursey Jr. was born on Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois. He pursued his undergraduate education from Black Hills State University, San Antonio College, Southwestern Illinois College, and Southern Illinois University. Hursey's career experience includes working as an English teacher, waiter, construction worker, and telemarketer.

Elections

2020

See also: Illinois' 15th Congressional District election, 2020

Illinois' 15th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 17 Democratic primary)

Illinois' 15th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 17 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 15

Mary Miller defeated Erika Weaver in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 15 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Miller (R)	73.4	244,947
		Erika Weaver (D)	26.6	88,559

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 333,506
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kathleen McManamon (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 15

Erika Weaver defeated Kevin Gaither, Craig Morton, and John Hursey Jr. in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 15 on March 17, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Erika Weaver	51.9	17,778
		Kevin Gaither	22.3	7,653
		Craig Morton	19.2	6,576
		John Hursey Jr.	6.6	2,244

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,251 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 15

Mary Miller defeated Darren Duncan, Kerry Wolff, and Charles Ellington in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 15 on March 17, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Miller	57.4	48,129
		Darren Duncan	21.8	18,309
	Submit photo	Kerry Wolff	13.4	11,208
		Charles Ellington	7.4	6,200

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,846 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kimberly Wade (R)
• Lori Fuller (R)
• Ron McCuan (R)
• Jacob Lane (R)
• Alex Walker (R)
• John Christian Bambenek (R)
• Kent Gray (R)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

John Hursey Jr. completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hursey's responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

In my family, you can't be successful if you work for yourself. I come from a long line of veterans, teachers, nurses, and caretakers. Living to serve is something that was ingrained in me from a very young time, but truthfully I don't think I really understood that concept as I became an adult. I was very much into serving myself, and most of what I did as a young man was in some way mostly about helping me. Consequently, I never had much success. What I eventually realized is that it doesn't matter how much money you make or how many people know who you are if what you are doing isn't of some benefit to the world around you. So I went back to school after dropping out a couple times before and I finally got my degree and teaching certificate and went back to work in my Dad's hometown.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• It's about values, not issues
• Consensus is key
• But okay if you really want to know i am interested in climate change health care education immigration reform gun control criminal justice and prison reform reparations ending the death penalty improving conditions on native american reservations strengthening protections for people who are LGBTQ in the civil rights act stopping chinese expansion in the south china sea returning crimea to the ukraine bolstering nato ensuring a free taiwan tying diplomacy to government transparency and ending human rights violations ending sex trafficking legalizing sex workers impeach donald trump rebuild infrastructure while subsidizing alternatives to concrete that leave less of a carbon footprint and go to mars.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm trying to look out for my people. Those are the weak, the meek, the poor, the sick, the hungry, the forgotten, the abused, the addict, the wildest, the realest, and the livest among us. If there's some piece of legislation that will benefit them, then I'm interested in hearing more about it.

My main platform, though, is that running on policy or issues isn't going to either win the election or fix the problems with those types of people. People vote on values, not on issues. My values are taking care of the people that I listed above. That's why I became an English teacher in East St Louis, that's why I'm running to help a district that has lagged behind the rest of the country in terms of economic growth.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

There are two films that most influenced my entry into politics:

The first is The Distinguished Gentleman, starring Eddie Murphy. In this movie, Murphy plays a conman who exploits a technicality to become a Congressperson. When he arrives in Washington, he finds that the other politicians are not that much different from himself. Finally, though, he realizes that he has more of a conscious than he thought, and games the system into actually helping people and exposing corruption.

The second film is Bulworth, starring Warren Beatty. Jay Billington Bulworth is a longtime California Senator who has become a shadow of his former self, caught in a tough reelection campaign and needing more and more money to stay competitive. Depressed and alone, he takes out a contract on his own life so that his family will receive a sizable insurance settlement. Suddenly freed from worry, he uses his remaining time to speak truth to power and attempt to connect with average people again. This culminates in a nationally-televised interview in which Bulworth rails against corporate greed and campaign finance laws until the signal is disrupted by shadowy figures. Even with a newfound purpose and zeal for life, though, Bulworth is not able to prevent his own assassination.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

During the 5th grade one morning at Kaiserslautern American High School on an USAF base in Vogelweh, Germany, our teacher Ms. Jackson sat us down and told us that the Berlin Wall was coming down on the other side of the country. She explained the circumstances and history behind how it was first built and why we were all living there, and what was happening as people were crossing freely back and forth across the checkpoints.

My parents picked up my brother, two sisters, and me at lunch. My Dad told us that we were driving straight to Berlin. When we got there my father realized he didn't have a hammer or sickle to help chop pieces off the wall, so we drove around looking for some kind of hardware store. We broke off a couple big hunks and sent them to friends and family as Christmas presents. We took our Christmas photographs in front of a group of people who were celebrating while taking down giant pieces. My Dad even managed to stage a picture of an East German and a West German police officer on opposite sides of the wall shaking hands, with my Mom standing in the middle of them wearing a giant Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.

We crossed Checkpoint Charlie and went into East Berlin. We ate at a very proletarian cafeteria-style restaurant, and people stared at us while we ate.

Even though it's probably the most significant historical event that I will ever be able to personally witness, the God's honest truth is that I was probably more interested in playing Game Boy at the time. For the next year, though, I got to see the reunification process as East and West Germany finally became one country again. It was interesting to watch a country pull itself back together again 50 years after a war that had not only torn apart their people, but the entire world, as well.

What is your favorite book? Why?

I'm an English teacher, so I don't have just one favorite.

The book that blew my mind when I was a high school junior was 1984, but I only ever read it once. I read Watchmen over and over and over again, but From Hell is Alan Moore's masterpiece. I was once so captivated by Stephen King's The Shining that I read it while I was driving and waiting tables at work. I wanted to enlist after reading Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, and then drop out after reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Also, Dave Barry is fucking hilarious.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

One thing that I think most people struggle with is living in fear. Fear is like this fog that hangs over you, preventing true happiness or understanding. It keeps you from doing what you want to do in life, or being with who you want to be with. Most of my life I was scared of not being as good as I wanted to be, or feeling like I didn't deserve to accomplish the goals that I set for myself. I ended up downsizing my dreams and compromising on what I wanted, and it made me miserable and awful to be around. Finally, though, I got to a point where I was more embarrassed about not having tried than having tried and failed. Eventually, I found that failure wasn't as bad as I thought, and that experiencing that failure is what prepared me for future successes.

I still get scared, and I still try to remind myself that being scared is no way to live your life.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Consensus doesn't just mean that everybody votes on what we're going to do, it also means that both sides agree to abide by the terms of the election and support the results in good faith. There are dozens of separate but essential issues that pose an existential problem to our continued development as a nation. Without a legislative branch that operates on the basic principles of consensus, though, I am afraid that there will be no long-term solutions to any of them.

The idea that either party will acquire and retain a super-majority in all three branches for a period long enough to enact permanent change is a pipe dream. Universal healthcare, assault weapons bans, and climate regulation are useless if they will just be neutered by the next electoral class.

I'd like to lower sea levels, provide access to medical care for all people, fully fund our nation's retirement plans, and raise the level of our educational system while lowering unemployment and strengthening our economy. None of that can happen, though, until we start to bridge this partisan divide in our country. Resolving that is my first priority.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Even though both Houses of Congress are popularly elected now, I think that the two-year terms for Representatives still makes them the populist wing of our legislative system. I like it because it means that Congresspeople need to be back out in their district with their ears to the ground, noses on the grindstone, and fingers on the pulse of what the people in their district want. Senators, with their six-year terms, have the luxury of standing above the clash and fray of public opinion, and ensuring that we don't enable what Hamilton called "the tyranny of the majority." Representatives, though, by their very nature are tasked with embellishing diversity and inclusiveness. Since I'm a person that has devoted to their career to bringing under-represented people to light, this especially appeals to me.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I think term limits are the single greatest factor in changing the culture of our political system and freeing ourselves from graft and corruption. However, I do not support specific term-limit legislation.

The incumbent in my district ran on a promise that they would retire after 10 years of service in the House of Representatives. When that time had passed, they reneged on that promise and still won reelection for another 12 years. I would suggest that the voters in this district valued the power and influence that came with a long-term incumbent more than the principles of fairness and good governance that would actually make this country a better place to live. Until voters hold candidates accountable to their promises force candidates to self-impose term limits, then the problem will not get fixed. I believe that specific legislation to enact term-limits will only shift the balance of power to lobbyists and special interest groups, and create a problem as bad or worse than before.

What I do support is legislation or regulations that are designed to make being a Congressperson as unattractive as possible. I support lowering pay, restrictions on employment after holding office, limiting pensions and health care for elected officials, and campaign fiance reform.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Footnotes

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Illinois' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Tammy Duckworth (D)

Dick Durbin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jonathan Jackson (D)

District 2

Robin Kelly (D)

District 3

Delia Ramirez (D)

District 4

Jesus Garcia (D)

District 5

Mike Quigley (D)

District 6

Sean Casten (D)

District 7

Danny Davis (D)

District 8

Raja Krishnamoorthi (D)

District 9

Jan Schakowsky (D)

District 10

Brad Schneider (D)

District 11

Bill Foster (D)

District 12

Mike Bost (R)

District 13

Nikki Budzinski (D)

District 14

Lauren Underwood (D)

District 15

Mary Miller (R)

District 16

Darin LaHood (R)

District 17

Eric Sorensen (D)

Democratic Party (16)

Republican Party (3)