Betsy Dirksen Londrigan

Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis won re-election Tuesday against Betsy Dirksen Londrigan. Davis beat his Democratic challenger in a tough rematch of the 2018 race for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, which includes portions of the Metro East.

At least 15,400 people in the southern Illinois 12th Congressional District are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act. And nearly 20,000 use the Marketplace to buy insurance in the 13th Congressional District. Voters will have to decide whether they trust Republican lawmakers to come up with a replacement for the ACA, or if it’s safer to elect Democrats who have vowed to protect and improve the existing act.

The contest for Illinois' 13 district is a rematch of 2018, when Republican incumbent Rodney Davis narrowly beat Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan. A number of the issues are the same in a race that is drawing interest from political observers outside the central Illinois district, which contains portions of the Metro East.

Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. She spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid and Jaclyn Driscoll about her race against U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, which includes a portion of the Metro East. Dirksen Londrigan ran against Davis in 2018, narrowly losing to the incumbent Republican by 2,058 votes. The race is again expected to be close on Nov. 3. Davis won reelection in 2014 and 2016 by nearly 20 percentage points each time.