South West Illinois News

David Severin, elected Tuesday to the District 117 state House seat, talked with Southwest Illinois News about his goals and hopes for the new General Assembly session, which starts in January, and how he feels about the election.

Severin started off by saying how much respect and love he has for not only southern Illinois, but also the state as a whole.

“It’s a great state to live in, and my goal is to get us to work together, identify the problems and then work toward some solutions.”

During the campaign, he focused on one message to voters, and he plans to keep that message alive.

"What my message has been for the last year since I decided to run for this position is that we have to get people in the House and in the Senate both to work together.”

Since talking with voters during the election, Severin said he understands and knows the citizens' priorities for the upcoming General Assembly, which begins on Jan. 11, 2017. He said his main concerns will be those of his district: taxes, social services, veterans services, workers' comp, pension problems, coal, term limits and redistricting.

“The people in southern Illinois are very tentative to what’s going on in the state or that lack of what’s going on in the state," Severin said.

Along with the voters, he is concerned with the state budget and blasted previous efforts made to resolve the impasse.

“That last budget that the House decided to pass, it was $7 billion out of balance, and people are watching that. Southern Illinois people have become very informed with what’s going on or what’s not going on," Severin said.

Severin aims to gather input from his constituents on such important issues.

“We have to put some committees together in our two-and-a-half counties that we can work together on issues so that when I go to Springfield, I know where we need to head.”

All things considered, Severin is excited ahead of the legislative session and said he's prepared to work hard for southern Illinois and the entirety of the state. His voters showed him they weren’t quick to focus on negative attacks by his opponents.

“This campaign showed that character matters," Severin said. "We are very humbled by the support of the people of the 117th district. We had an extremely tough fight, but my pledge has been to fight."