Election 2022: LaHood, Haderlein agree 2020 election was legitimate, but disagree on extent of voter fraud

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood said he doesn’t think the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, but thinks voter fraud still took place, while his opponent considers voter fraud a non-issue and is looking to expand voting access.

LaHood is a Republican running for the 16th Congressional District and has been an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, receiving his endorsement over the summer.

His opponent, Democrat Lisa Haderlein, of Harvard, was slated after no Democrats ran in the June primary.

The 16th Congressional District is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is not seeking reelection. The 16th district, which was shifted as part of the decennial redistricting process that followed the 2020 Census, now stretches from the northern border of Illinois south past Peoria.

LaHood is currently serving as representative in the 18th District, which was eliminated as part of redistricting and moved LaHood’s home north of Peoria into the 18th. LaHood beat out three challengers in June’s primary.

Before joining the House of Representatives, LaHood was a state senator from 2011 to 2015 and served as a state’s attorney. His father, Ray LaHood, also a Republican, served as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation under former President Barack Obama.

Haderlein is an alderwoman for the city of Harvard and the executive director of the Land Conservancy of McHenry County.

Going forward with U.S. elections, LaHood said the country needs to learn from the “improprieties’' of the 2020 election. He specifically referred to a handful of swing states where Trump questioned the results. In those states, LaHood said he thinks people voted illegally or states improperly used the rule changes tied to the COVID-19 that aimed at expanding mail-in voting.

“We have to make sure every vote is being counted appropriately,” LaHood said.

Despite saying those states had issues, LaHood voted against the objections to the election results on Jan. 6 and 7, 2021. He said while he thinks there was illegal voting, he isn’t convinced it was enough to swing the results.

“I’m a prosecutor. I believe in facts and evidence,” he said. “I have not seen facts and evidence to lead me to believe the election … did not turn out the way that it did.”

Haderlein also agreed the 2020 election was legitimate, but did not agree with LaHood on voter fraud. She said there is no evidence of it happening in general or in the 2020 election specifically. Examples that do exist are on a “minute scale” and come nowhere near being enough to call into question the results, she said.

Rather than having concerns over illegal voting, Haderlein said her top priority is to expand people’s ability to vote.

“It’s so important to democracy,” she said. “That’s what sets us apart from so many countries. … Let’s make it easier for people, not make it harder.”

Both LaHood and Haderlein said they don’t support federalizing the country’s elections. That is, taking control of elections out of the hands of the states, which is the current system, and having the federal government run them centrally.

Despite this, both do believe the federal government could play a role in elections. LaHood said oversight and “properly monitoring” elections for improprieties is something that can be enhanced, he said. Helping states invest in improving their election systems was one idea he pitched.

“The foundation of our democracy is predicated on people having faith in our election systems,” he said. “And if people don’t have faith in it, then they’re not going to want to vote and they’re going to continue to criticize it.”

Haderlein said she thinks the federal government should create minimum standards for states to follow when it comes to voting, but would leave it up to the states to best figure out how to implement and run them.

Ensuring methods to vote, such as voting by mail or enough polling locations are available, are things she said she would support. She called it “ridiculous” that states have different laws for what is and isn’t allowed, such as Georgia’s law that makes it illegal to give food and water to those standing in line.

“I don’t think it should matter what part of the country you live in,” she said. “Everyone should have reasonable access to voting.”

Requiring an I.D. to vote was something LaHood said he supported to increase integrity. He also said he supported various bills being passed by states to enhance election security, such as bills Georgia and Arizona have passed.

Haderlein said she doesn’t think requiring voter I.D. is necessary, saying she’s never seen it be an issue. She sees it as a way to intimidate people and put another obstacle in people’s way, “all in the guise of preventing election fraud.”

“I don’t know where this boogeyman came from, where we have to be getting people’s I.D.’s … to be able to vote,” she said.