Congressional Candidate Offers Ultimatum to Political Rivals
Anthony Clark canvassing in Humboldt Park. Photo by Rick Majewski.
Polling is expensive, really expensive. On the low end, a standard telephone poll can range between $10,000 to $20,000 according to CNBC. For a grassroots campaign like that Anthony Clark, that takes no money from political committees, paying for poll would eat large sums of his campaign money. That's why he devised a plan where he and the two other Democratic challengers for Illinois state representative in the 7th district split the cost of the poll, and whoever is not in the lead drops from the race.
Clark, a high school teacher and U.S. Air Force veteran, is one of the three challengers running against 24 year incumbent, Danny Davis, for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming March primary. Kina Collins and Kristine Schanbacher are the other two candidates running in the district, and who he’s running against to unseat Danny Davis.
According to Clark’s proposed polling plan, the three candidates for U.S. representative would split the total cost of the poll evenly and once the results are in the two candidates polling the lowest among them drop from the race and instead support the leading candidate.
“If we have all the candidates running against the incumbent pitch in for a poll we all play a role and we all ensure that it [the poll] is as unbiased as possible,” said Clark about his proposal. “And then based on those results, based upon our policies, based upon our backgrounds and based upon our abilities to get into the community we allow the community to have a voice and decide who would be the representative to run against the incumbent and have a chance to win.”
For Clark, starting a progressive movement in the 7th district and replacing Danny Davis is more important than him winning the Democratic nomination. Clark’s movement prioritizes creating equal opportunities, such as jobs and housing for all, and not just wealthy folks in the district.
“This movement is bigger than one candidate or one race. This movement is bigger than me,” Clark said. “So if the other candidates running truly identify Danny Davis as part of the problem we can't let him win.”
While referring to Davis’ 2018 reelection campaign, Clark said that Illinois’ 7th district, which includes all of downtown, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, West Englewood and western suburbs, has been gerrymandered to protect the incumbent and claimed that Davis has done nothing to improve West and South Side communities in recent years.
Kristine Schanbacher, a human rights attorney who has fought for wrongfully terminated food benefits and asylum cases for transgender women fleeing Mexico, is also challenging Clark for the nomination. According to the Federal Election Commission, Schanbacher has been able to raise more money from campaign contributions than Anthony Clark and Kina Collins.
In the third quarter, Kristine Schanbacher raised over $166,000, most of which is from individualized donations. Kina Collins raised nearly $45,000 in the same span of time. Anthony Clark has yet to report total earnings for the third quarter.
Mark Macias, a representative for Schanbacher’s campaign, said that they have conducted an independent poll and are satisfied with the results. “Our polling shows Kristine is the only viable challenger in this race,” said Macias.
Kina Collins did not respond to comment on Anthony Clark’s polling proposal.