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Residents of western Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri will go to be the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 6.The various ballots across the tri-state region feature races for governor, congress, and seats in state legislatures and county government.The news department at Tri States Public Radio has been talking to the candidates so you can be a more informed voter.

Norine Hammond – Illinois House District 93 – Election 2018

Rich Egger
State Representative Norine Hammond in the TSPR news studio

This election is a rematch of the 2016 contest between Republican State Representative Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) and Democratic challenger John Curtis of Macomb.  Hammond won the 2016 election, 55% - 45%, and she is now running for a fifth term.

About

Norine Hammond was appointed to the seat in December 2010 following the death of State Representative Rich Myers (R-Colchester).  The district’s Republican Representative Committee chose her over five other candidates.

Hammond ran unopposed in 2012 and 2014 before being challenged by Curtis in 2016. Hammond was also challenged in the March, 2018 primary by Joshua Griffith of Abingdon.  Hammond won the primary, 54% - 46%.

Prior to becoming state representative, Hammond served as Myers’ legislative aide.

Why Running

Hammond said she is devoted to the district and has addressed a lot of its needs. Hammond said she is running for re-election because she believes she has done a good job for the district’s citizens.

“I have an excellent record of constituent services. Not to say that we are able to solve all persons’ problems all the time but certainly my office assistants and I do the very best that we can. I believe I’ve done a good job of representing the district.”

For example, Hammond said she worked on bipartisan legislation to help reduce a backlog of Medicaid applications for those going into long-term care or have been in long-term care. She said that is beneficial for patients and facilities.

Top Priority

Hammond is a member of the Higher Education Working Group and hopes to continue with that work if she is re-elected.

“We’ve done a lot in not quite a year. I have very high hopes that there is a lot more that we can accomplish in a bipartisan, bicameral manner as we have been doing.”

Hammond said the group’s members are starting to work on creating a funding formula for public colleges and universities. And she said the group has already come up with plans to help encourage students to enroll in Illinois’ colleges and universities through implementation of a four year Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) and creation of the tuition & fees incentive program called AIM HIGH.

Hammond hopes legislators will create bipartisan, bicameral groups to address other issues and challenges too.

She also would like to help come up with a plan to address the state’s infrastructure needs.

“I think the most important component of it needs to be not just repairing our infrastructure, but there has to be some kind of a plan to maintain it. You can fix all of the roads and all of the infrastructure needs in the world, but if you don’t have the money to maintain those fixes then you’re spending good money after bad or vice-versa.”

District

Illinois House District 93 includes all or portions of Brown, Cass, Fulton, Knox, Mason, McDonough, Schuyler, and Warren Counties.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.