An interview with candidate Angel Smith
This last Sunday, I had the chance to conduct an interview over Zoom with Democratic candidate Angel Smith, who is challenging Republican incumbent Randy Frese for his seat in the Illinois 94th State House District.
Angel Smith was born in Quincy, Illinois, and studied at Quincy University where she earned her master’s degree in counseling in 2008. Smith also served in the Navy for 12 years as a linguist and cryptologic technician. She is currently working at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy and is a member of AFSCME Local 1787 Union.
Early in the interview, candidate Smith made it clear, as she does on her website, that she supports the 15 dollar minimum wage, but sees it as “just the first step” and that “we need to get the minimum wage up to something that’s a living wage”. the strengthening of unions in Illinois in an effort to improve the quality of jobs in Illinois. She also spoke about her ideas for how agriculture in Illinois can be better managed and made more efficient through the promotion of smaller and more closely managed farms alongside the protection and rejuvenation of existing farmland. In addition to making agriculture more efficient and productive, Smith also believes that modifying and improving American Agriculture could even serve to make America safer from a national security standpoint as “a lot of smaller facilities would be less vulnerable” to threats.
She also expressed her support for increasing funding to local schools and alleviating student debt alongside support for the implementation of the fair tax here in Illinois. Smith expressed a strong belief in the power and promise of education and the necessity of ensuring that education is both of high quality and easily accessible here in the 94th district and throughout the state of Illinois. Throughout the course of the interview, Smith repeatedly asserted her belief in progress and her hope for a brighter future for Illinois and America at large. As part of her final statement to voters at the end of the interview she said, “progress will be made, it’s going to be painful, it’s going to be hard, but I have every reason to expect that we’re going to keep making progress, and I know that we can, and I’m always going to be working towards that, whether or not I get elected”.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WcRtsZ6KoyTKCFzZFteSKkIjzWYxJZ_T/view?usp=sharing
Joseph Doner - Staff Writer