South West Illinois News

Senator Terri Bryant hosted various Coffee and Conversation events amidst Illinois’ election season after taking to office in 2021.

“We are offering several opportunities in the near future to discuss issues of importance to all in the 58th District,” Bryant said on Facebook.

Bryant claimed victory at the polls in the June primary election uncontested. According to Ballotpedia, she's going into the November general election uncontested as there is no Democratic candidate for the district.

The coffee events were held on June 14 in Marissa, and June 15 in Chester and Du Quoin.

KFDM reported the state owes approximately $1.8 billion in unemployment funds after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation to pay $2.7 billion in March toward the bill from the American Rescue Plan.

“We could’ve and should’ve avoided this by allocating some of the billions of federal dollars we got from the federal government last year,” Bryant wrote on her website. “However, when we asked Democrats and the governor to put the federal dollars into the trust fund, they chose to ignore us and claimed we had plenty of time to address the problem. Now, a year later, we are being told by those same people that we are out of time and that this is the best that our state can do.”

In May, she cheered the students in her Youth Advisory Council. 

“This won't be the last time you see the young people from my Youth Advisory Council," Bryant wrote in a tweet. "I believe one or more of this crew will be our future elected officials."

According to Ballotpedia, Bryant is assigned to various standing committees in the state Senate. She’s the minority spokesperson in the Behavioral and Mental Health standing committee.

Also in May, she attended the White County Republicans' Lincoln Day Dinner.

“Fantastic crowd at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Carmi last evening,” Bryant wrote on Facebook. “Big crowd joining great candidates, all discussing the upcoming Illinois Primary Election.”