For longer than most people can remember, the only choice people had for16th congressional district representation were candidates selected by one of the two political parties. Wanda Roh’s candidacy changes all that.
With Adam Kinzinger (R) having defeated long-time Republican Don Manzullo for the 16th district seat in the Republican primary, and the Democratic Party slating no one to oppose Kinzinger in the general election, Wanda Rohl, Ottawa, IL, decided that allowing a Republican to walk away with the district was unthinkable. As a person whose very life was saved and ultimately transformed by the availability of America’s social safety net programs, she could not in good conscience sit by and allow the party whose goal it is to dismantle those very programs to hold on to power, especially without a fight.
On April 21, 2012, citizens of the newly mapped 16th congressional district met in DeKalb Illinois Citizens’ Convention to draft their own candidate to run under the Democratic banner. Emerging from that forum was Ottawa, IL native Wanda Rohl.
In the week that followed, all 14 16th district Democratic Party chairs voted to caucus Rohl in for the 2012 ballot. Then, in the whirlwind four weeks of signature gathering, a small army of grassroots volunteers hit the streets and managed to gather three times the number of signatures necessary to clinch the democratic spot on the general election ballot.
Rohl is no career politician; in fact, she is no politician at all. Hers is a simple mission to end the Tea Party congressional roadblock, get Jobs growing again, and to protect and improve America’s social safety net programs. Unlike her well-funded opponent, hers is a truly grassroots campaign that has received no funding from either the state or national Democratic Party.
Rohl’s life story is one of family farming, raising a family, surviving a tragic accident and the tortuous rebuilding process that followed. It is these experiences, and not a lust for power, that drives Rohl to seek public office. She hopes giving back to the community and nation that has given her so much will be the next big chapter in her life.
To learn more about Wanda Rohl, visit rohlforcongress.com.