Democrat challenging Schock eyes income inequality

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria faces several challengers in next year's elections. (Getty Images file photo)

BLOOMINGTON – A Democrat from Mason County running for Congress says the U.S. trade deficit and income inequality threaten the country’s economy.

Steve Waterworth, 64, of Easton, has filed to run in the 18th Congressional District, which includes parts of Bloomington-Normal. He’ll face pizzeria manager Matthew Woodmancy of Pekin in the Democratic primary March 20, with the winner moving on to November to face two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria or his GOP challenger, Danvers farmer Darrel Miller.

Waterworth is an Illinois Air National Guard retiree who also served in the Air Force during Vietnam. He said U.S. foreign trade policies are moving too many jobs overseas and too many well-education Americans are jobless. He said the poor get poorer while “a sliver of people … are really getting wealthy.”

“We either do something about it in a systematic way in a way that’s good for this country, or we’re gonna have the kind of economic collapse that will really make it tough on people, a lot more difficult than it’s been in the past,” he said.

Waterworth said he serves on Mason County’s Zoning Board of Appeals and is town clerk for his local township and president of his area’s park district. He said he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004 and 2006.

Waterworth said Schock is “not in touch with the real world” and doesn’t know tough the economy really is.

“Aaron Schock, I believe, is the kind of person – he’s on an ego trip. I’m not on an ego trip,” Waterworth said. “I don’t care about being a politician. I don’t care about being a congressman. But I deeply care about helping people of this country, this district.”

The newly redrawn 18th Congressional District will now stretch all the way east to include parts of the Twin Cities, as well as other portions of McLean, Tazewell, Logan, Woodford and Peoria counties.

Ryan Denham can be reached at ryan@wjbc.com.