![](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/389/2018/11/03064544/Betsy-vets.jpg)
By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Politically, it is good to have veterans on your side, and that is what Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is trying to accomplish.
She’s the Springfield Democrat hoping to oust U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) on the strength of her passion for health care, something she says the Republicans want to pull away from the middle class.
At a news conference at her Springfield campaign office Friday afternoon, she was accompanied by many veterans, including perhaps Illinois’ most famous — U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
The Republicans’ health care ideas are “nice things that sound like they were for health care, but really they were all for gutting health care protections,” Duckworh said. “I watched as Rodney Davis celebrated – celebrated! – on the White House lawn after voting to rip health insurance from 35,000 of his own constituents.”
Londrigan, whose son survived a life-threatening health crisis, has also said that White House event spurred her into the race. Davis has a personal health care story of his own, as his wife is a colon cancer survivor.
The Davis campaign provided the following response to Londrigan’s event: