One of the candidates featured at the Southern Illinois Democratic Candidate Reception on Thursday was Julie Fortier, who is seeking to challenge incumbent Mike Bost to represent Illinois’ 12th congressional district in the U.S. House. Fortier says she was inspired to run in part by what she describes as Bost’s failure to support his own constituents.
“There is very little support right now for anybody who is a minority, anybody who is a farmer, anybody who has any financial disparity and they’re reliant on Medicaid or the ACA,” Fortier said. “There has been no support for those people. Bost has voted against those people… if he’s not willing to stand up for these people, I am.”
Fortier criticized Bost’s support for cuts to Medicaid in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act as harmful both to a significant portion of the rural population that relies on Medicaid for healthcare and to rural hospitals that depend on business they receive from Medicaid patients:
“In this county alone for Medicaid, 17.4% of people are on Medicaid. In this district, 17%. That’s one out of every six people. Conservatively, that is 120,000 people on Medicaid. It Is proposed now with the ACA subsidies being removed and the Medicaid reductions that are going to occur, that over 17 million Americans will lose their health insurance… Right now, one of the biggest things we can do to weaken our economy is make people sicker. And yet, Bost voted for this.”
Fortier also described Bost’s position on the issue of climate change as unacceptable, saying that immediate action on climate is needed to ensure a future for younger generations.
As part of her campaign, Fortier plans to hold town halls across southern Illinois to speak directly with voters. She indicated she would be happy to see Bost at a town hall to debate him on the issues. Fortier stressed the importance of bringing people out to town halls to give them a chance to hear a new perspective.
Currently, Fortier is the only Democrat on the ballot in the primary for the 12th District seat next March.
