IL-13: Davis staffer arrested for aggravated battery

[RogueBeaver]

His field director chased Davis' Dem opponent around a bar and punched other people before being arrested.

[Hindsight was 2020]

D+1

[Jeppe]

This is only an R+3 seat too.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I don’t think this will decide the election either way, but...yikes!

[Ebsy]

https://twitter.com/WCIA3Mark/status/1030089050592632832

What a bizarre episode. Hopefully this means Londrigan's attacks are working if they get the in person indimudation and battery treatment from a GOP thug.

[IceSpear]

LOL, It's So Atlas to think anyone is going to vote off based what some random staffer did 3 months before the election. It's not like it was Davis himself assaulting random people at bars.

[KingSweden]

Sounds like Davis fired this guy immediately

[DrScholl]

Fired or not this is the sort of thing that campaigns cannot afford.

[DINGO Joe]

Jeez, the GOP is filled with crazed swill

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Sounds like Davis fired this guy immediately

This will not be an issue then.

[Virginiá]

LOL, It's So Atlas to think anyone is going to vote off based what some random staffer did 3 months before the election. It's not like it was Davis himself assaulting random people at bars.

It's certainly something the Democrat could turn into ads and pound him with for all of October, but I think if Davis was ever going to lose, he'd still lose without this incident being weaponized against him. His district is around Trump+5.5 and Romney+0.3. This is exactly the kind of district that would be highly vulnerable in a Democratic wave year.

[IceSpear]

LOL, It's So Atlas to think anyone is going to vote off based what some random staffer did 3 months before the election. It's not like it was Davis himself assaulting random people at bars.

It's certainly something the Democrat could turn into ads and pound him with for all of October, but I think if Davis was ever going to lose, he'd still lose without this incident being weaponized against him. His district is around Trump+5.5 and Romney+0.3. This is exactly the kind of district that would be highly vulnerable in a Democratic wave year.

Agreed. He seems like yet another another Republican incumbent the pundits are vastly overrating like Herrera Beutler, MacArthur, etc. Likely R, really?

[new_patomic]

LOL, It's So Atlas to think anyone is going to vote off based what some random staffer did 3 months before the election. It's not like it was Davis himself assaulting random people at bars.

It's certainly something the Democrat could turn into ads and pound him with for all of October, but I think if Davis was ever going to lose, he'd still lose without this incident being weaponized against him. His district is around Trump+5.5 and Romney+0.3. This is exactly the kind of district that would be highly vulnerable in a Democratic wave year.

Agreed. He seems like yet another another Republican incumbent the pundits are vastly overrating like Herrera Beutler, MacArthur, etc. Likely R, really?

Oh yeah, it's always been pretty overrated. This district shifted the least towards Trump of any downstate district and it doesn't rely on ancestral Democrats to be competitive. Davis has never been less vulnerable than, say, Bost in IL-12.

That being said, even if no one is going to be voting based on this, the negative coverage it'll generate in the meantime will impact. I doubt you'll see any ads over a drunk field director, at least not after Davis apologized promptly and fired the guy, but right now in pretty much every important paper in the district you've got a headline with Davis' name, a staffer arrested, and a mugshot, with twitter video on the website. It won't help him, that's for sure.

[Mr. Illini]

It's not a game changer, but it does hurt Davis. Apologies/firings aside, Londrigan can use it to show that her side is the civil side, which reinforces the Trump-era dynamic.

Agree with the comments on this being more competitive than many think. Dems don't need ancestral Dems here - it is reliant on turnout on the college campuses, turnout of state employees in Springfield, and turnout among black voters in Metro East, all of which should be way up this year.

[Xing]

Yikes. Crazy how far some people will go. As for the race itself, though: Tilt R -> Tilt R

[new_patomic]

So just to update this, Rodney Davis and his Campaign are refusing to say if the Campaign sent the field director to spy on Londrigan’s event. He's dodging the question mostly by repeating the fact that he himself did not send the guy, while the campaign is refusing to answer at all. When asked about the campaign, Davis responded “I don’t believe anybody on my campaign has ever said that they sent Levi to that event.”

And then, this:
https://twitter.com/WCIA3Mark/status/1031725831775834112

I really don't get why he isn't owning up to it now and simply moving on. It isn't like this sort of oppo is unprecedented or anything.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I don’t think this will decide the election either way, but...yikes!

[NewYorkExpress]

Congratulations, Levi Lovell, you've singlehanded made this race Lean D.

[DrScholl]

Congratulations, Levi Lovell, you've singlehanded made this race Lean D.

In your dreams.

For heaven's sake, will you stop this? You don't need to come into every thread with your trolling.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Congratulations, Levi Lovell, you've singlehanded made this race Lean D.

In your dreams.

For heaven's sake, will you stop this? You don't need to come into every thread with your trolling.

Trolling is the reason he became a member in the first place.

[Mr. Illini]

Very likely that he was sent by the campaign. Trackers are sent to opposing candidate events all the time in case the candidate says something outlandish.

[KingSweden]

Remarkable how he was unable to make an otherwise non story go away

[Ebsy]

Remarkable how he was unable to make an otherwise non story go away

Almost like he isn't a battle hardened campaign veteran and only holds this seat because he has never run in a tough environment.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Likely R —-> Strong Lean R.