A Democratic candidate for the 16th Congressional District says he wants to beef up federal worker protections and mandated benefits.
Scott Best of Normal is a worker at Rivian. He’s running in the 2026 election as an outsider, even from fellow Democrats.
“It's the people versus the corporate captured political establishment,” said Best.
He said Gov. JB Pritzker has done a lot good for the state, but takes him to task for not doing more for workers.
“He claims he's a pro-union working class politician, but during the press conference at Rivian, when he was giving all of these millions of dollars to the company and shaking the CEO's hand, never once did he recognize or comment on the unionization efforts currently going on,” said Best.
Best said his key campaign issue is how the U.S. treats its workers, ad advocating a federal benchmark of six weeks paid sick leave.
“Forty hours for an entire year is unacceptable. People have lives. Things happen. People that work in these plants, have health conditions that they've got to take care of, on top of working a 40-hour week,” said Best. “These are benefits these people need to improve their quality of life.”
Federal deficit
Best said he would make inroads into the budget deficit by re-allocating existing spending.
“I think what a lot of people mistake me for is your typical tax-and-spend Democrat … there's hundreds of billions of dollars in the federal budget right now being spent on on things we don't need it to be spent on. That's money that could be funneled directly into American domestic priorities, like providing, you know, basic health care services to Americans. I'm not saying, you know, we need to make health care completely free, although I believe that it's certainly a big issue to tackle, but I think we can take small steps,” said Best.
He listed money the U.S. is spending to support the Israeli government as something that could be re-allocated.
Last year, the Council on Foreign Relations reported that since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, the U.S. has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in direct military aid to Israel from ongoing agreements and new supplemental assistance.
“I don't think we need to be putting all of that money over there, because, I'm just going to say it bluntly, it's encouraging them to do what they're doing,” said Best. “That could be going to pay for domestic issues like health care, because that's where the priorities need to be.”
Social Security
The Social Security combined trust funds are projected to run out sometime in the next decade unless something happens. Potential policy remedies include raising the retirement age, changing payroll deduction rates that support Social Security for various income levels, and reducing benefits to retirees.
Best is noncommittal on how to address the challenge.
“I definitely don't think benefits should be reduced or cut in any way,” said Best. “At this early stage in the campaign, it's not an issue I've completely looked into 100%.”
Trade policy
Best takes a dim view of President Trump’s emphasis on tariffs and bilateral trade agreements to move the global economy away from decades of a free trade approach.
“Trump hasn't done much to address the fact that these tariffs that he puts in place affect people stateside. They're not affecting the countries that he's putting the tariffs on as much as they're affecting the price increases over here,” said Best.
The Trump administration claim is that over time, tariffs will encourage the reshoring of American manufacturing jobs, but Best thinks they will hurt U.S. manufacturing.
“I've seen how tariffs have already affected us at Rivian. We've had part shortages because of it. And what happens short term can have a big impact on what happens long term,” said Best.
Foreign policy
Even in a deep red district like the 16th, Best said there is opposition to the recent bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump, he said, “promised to put American interests first and domestic issues first. And he's turning around, and firing missile strikes at Iran in the best interest of Israel.”
Best said he does not have a concern that Iran will become a nuclear power.
“There's a lot of evidence to show that they're working toward that. It's also something they've been saying for the last 30-40 years. Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel has been saying for decades now that Iran is weeks away from a nuclear weapon, and they never are, so it's just a talking point they're ‘gonna continue to use,” said Best.
He said the U.S. does not need to be in a war with Iran, and he questioned the accuracy of U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran is making progress toward developing an atomic bomb.
“I'm not so sure they actually know if Iran is anywhere near being close to developing a nuclear weapon … It doesn't need to be a huge concern at the moment,” said Best.
He said events in Iran and Israel are a distraction from domestic policy issues.
The 16th District skews Republican. Darin LaHood is the incumbent and is seeking re-election. Two other Democrats have announced for the primary in March: Bradley University adjunct Joe Albright of Chillicothe and Paul Nolley of Rockford.
The primary election is March 17, 2026.
