Citizens of Metea hosted their Primary Candidate Fair in preparation for the upcoming March elections on Feb. 20. With 12 candidates in attendance, the civic service club welcomed both students and candidates running for Congress, judicial positions, and other DuPage County official spots in the Library Media Center (LMC).
With the 2024 United States primary elections coming up on March 19, the forum provided a valuable opportunity for candidates to effectively introduce themselves and explain their goals and interests for the upcoming election.
Dr. Kent Mercado is a candidate who broadcasted himself running for Congress in the district. During both the introduction presentation and student discussion, Mercado explained his opinion on students getting involved in the local elections.
“It is very important because you have to do your civic duty,” Mercado said. “Engaging in worrying about whether you are voting Republican or Democrat is not as important as understanding issues surrounding your community and learning about what is important. Once students are able to educate themselves, they can make the best decision which mirrors their beliefs and opinions.”
Candidate Bob Berlin who is running for DuPage County State’s Attorney maintains a similar opinion.
“I think everyone that can vote needs to take advantage of [the] opportunity,” Berlin states. “It is one of the rights that we have which makes our country so great.”
Owing to the fact that each candidate in attendance needed to express their aspirations for the coming election, Berlin expressed some of his goals as he runs for his desired position.
“My number one goal is to keep this county safe and to keep all of us safe,” Berlin said. “It is my job to figure out how we handle holding people accountable for their actions. This could indicate sending someone to jail or in other cases moving individuals to a diversion program, drug court, or mental health court.”
Judge Kenton Skarin was another candidate in attendance who is on trial court for all of DuPage County. He is currently running for the third district appellate court, which hears cases appealed from trial courts in seven counties including Iroquois, Kankakee, Grundy, Bureau, and LaSalle. He mentioned he was first in his class at Northwestern and has worked in some of the largest law firms in the world. Since becoming an appellate lawyer, he has changed his objectives within our area.
“I want to bring it to the best quality judging possible to the state of Illinois,” Skarin said. “Up to this point, when I went on the bench about five years ago, I was an appellate lawyer. This court is basically what I did all over the country. And frankly, our report needs to have that level of national quality, which we simply do not have.”
Citizens of Metea Advisor Susan Fuhrer was a major component behind the organization of this event. Without her crucial role, the event turnout would not have been as successful as presented.
Club member Chloe Stables noticed the numerous benefits of attending the fair.
“As Citizens of Metea’s goal is to promote civic engagement, events like this help get students involved with the political atmosphere of their community,” Stables says. “We think that hosting these candidate fairs is a great way for students to interact with the local politicians and to figure out where their values align and who they would vote for in the future.”
The fair also served as an event that students could use to get civic engagement points for government classes, which is why Senior Cooper Simonich was in attendance. Simonich believes that students should use opportunities like this to educate themselves on this topic so they are better prepared when they have the ability to vote.
For additional information about Citizens of Metea and future candidate fairs, reach out to club advisor Susan Fuhrer.
A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled the names of Bob Berlin and Dr. Kent Mercado. The Stampede regrets these errors.
