Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – We’re now fresh off the primary election here in Illinois. Judy Bowlby, former 15th Congressional District candidate, was on the WTAX Morning Newswatch to reflect on the loss in the primary.
“I wanted to send a message to everyone, be it Democrat, Republican, or Independent, that it is important to get engaged in politics early,” said Bowlby. “I think it’s also important to be an independent thinker and doer. Both these parties have become so scripted and so extreme, and I think that is an issue for a lot of the general public.”
Bowlby says she is not upset at losing to incumbent Mary Miller and candidate Ryan Tebrugge, because it’s more about what she learned along the way.
“Growing up, my mom would quote something to me. She would say, ‘This above all self to thine own self be true’ which is a Shakespeare quote, meaning you want to operate with authenticity and integrity,” said Bowlby. And one of the things that was resounding in everyone that I dealt with, and I had many people tell me this, and they said, ‘You’re the real thing.’ And I said, I don’t know how to be anybody but that.”
Bowlby says she feels being a politician isn’t all that much about being true.
“Part of being in that position has been to somewhat follow a script. And you find that also in the Democratic Party. I was not going to follow that script because I had a mind of my own of what I thought was important,” said Bowlby. “If you know I wanted to maintain people that I talked to, one of the things that was resounding in everyone that I dealt with, and I had many people tell me this, and they said, you’re the real thing.
“And I said, I don’t know how to be anybody but that. Even if I would have followed the script and said, I had to say this and I had to say that and had to get the party blessing, all the things that they may have wanted me on the far right to say, I still didn’t have the financial backing,” Bowlby continued. “I didn’t have the incumbent status, I didn’t have campaign staff to go out and, you know, get signatures for me. I got the signatures myself, along with small numbers of people.”
Miller will face Democratic Party nominee, Jennifer Todd, in the November election.
