Our Daily Show Interview! Randy Raley: Candidate (D) IL-15
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ILLINOIS - Randy Raley is a Democrat challenging Mary Miller to represent the 15th District of Illinois.
Raley recently stopped by “Our Daily Show!” with C.J. Nasello to share his goals for his campaign and his plans for the district if elected. He emphasized that he wants to represent the entire district.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican. Let’s find some kind of common ground where we can lift this district up and make life better for everybody,” he said. “If you don’t look like me or pray like me or love like me, I will represent you, too. If you are a churchgoing guy on Sunday and all of that, I will represent you. It’s a big, wide district, and it covers a lot of land. There’s going to be a lot of different interests in the district and it’s going to be hard to put a coalition together, but at least I’m willing to sit and listen.”
Raley lived in Missouri for a long time but eventually “got tired of Missouri turning into Mississippi.” He moved to Highland, Ill., to live with his girlfriend four years ago. When he experienced “a little problem,” he tried to get in touch with Mary Miller but never heard back.
This prompted Raley to do more research into Miller and her voting record. As someone on Social Security and Medicare, Raley found Miller’s work to be “kind of scary.” He decided to run against her. He noted that in the past few months, he has already learned a lot about the 15th District and community members’ needs.
“One of the things about the campaign is that I’m getting out and I’m finding out what the issues in the district are, and we’ve got a number of them,” he explained. “As I go through the district, I find out that Alhambra needs a water tower and we’ve got a place over in Christian County that needs a new sheriff’s office and we’ve got infrastructures in the district that are wearing out. And we’re trying to get Mary Miller to get some federal funds into the district, and she, for some reason, has refused to do so…I almost think she has abandoned the district.”
He also disagrees with her voting record. He pointed out that she voted for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Raley fears will lead to the closure of several nursing homes in the 15th District. She also cosponsored H.R. 1319, which he disagrees with.
Raley believes Democrats have become too concerned with “political correctness,” and the party has lost people in rural America. He stressed that his goal is to represent the entire district.
“It’s not my district. It’s not Mary Miller’s district. It's the people’s district. It belongs to the people,” he said. “I may have to cast a vote in Washington that I don’t like. But if this is what the people in the district want, then it’s my job to represent them in that way.”
Raley noted that the Democratic primary is St. Patrick’s Day 2026, so he encourages constituents to “get drunk and vote.” He added that he is enjoying the campaign so far and looks forward to continuing his work.
For more information about Randy Raley and his campaign to represent Illinois’s 15th District, visit his official website at ElectRaley.com.
