Congressman Raja Krishna Morthy campaigns for the Illinois Senate seat vacated by Dick Durbin, facing a divided Democratic primary against Robin Kelly and Juliana Stratton. Simultaneously, the episode highlights TSA workers' financial struggles during a government shutdown, noting President Trump's social media engagement regarding one officer's child. This historic election race risks splitting Democratic support while federal employees face economic hardship amidst political gridlock. [Automatically generated summary]
And you've been watching C-SPAN's continuing coverage of Campaign 2026.
Today, the focus is on Illinois.
You've been watching Congressman Raja Krishna Morthy as he runs for the Senate seat, being vacated by Dick Durbin, who is retiring.
Coming up shortly, the Congressman will speak with reporters and will bring that to you live when he starts here on C-SPAN.
And we've got more campaign 2026 coverage from Illinois tomorrow when another Democratic hopeful hits the trail.
Representative Robin Kelly speaks to voters in Chicago ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary election.
Watch that live tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
Welcome back.
It's now open forum where you can talk about any public policy or political issue on your mind.
I'll start this section off talking about TSA workers.
I point now to a CNN article.
It says, TSA workers grapple with loss of first paycheck.
Quote, I don't want to depend on anybody else.
You just scroll down, bear with me here.
It says we're out of articles.
It says, a father and Transportation Security Administration officer said he crumbled when one of his children was asked whether he needed money in the wake of a four-week-long government shutdown for the department.
And President Trump true socialed about the TSA worker mentioned in that article.
It's loading, and I'll come back to that.
Another article subject that we want to talk about this morning is the Illinois Senate primary.
An article from Politico says a historic Senate opening meets a divided Illinois Democratic Party.
Rival bids by Robin Kelly and Juliana Stratton risk splitting support as Roger Krishna.
And we'll break away here as Congressman Krishna Morthy has started his press availability.