Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky will face a GOP opponent who believes that autism, dementia, and tornadoes were somehow caused by gays. GOP challenger Susanne Atanus' views are so outside the mainstream that even the state GOP refused to endorse her.
“God is angry,” she told the Herald. “We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions. Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it’s in our military, it will weaken our military. We need to respect God.”
She later sought to walk back her remarks. Regarding economic issues:
“You can tell the community that I called to reach out to them, that I need them, and they need me,” Atanus said.
In her January interview, she also had this to say:
God controls the weather, she said, and tornadoes are evidence of his wrath.
“God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions,” she said. “Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it’s in our military it will weaken our military. We need to respect God.”
She narrowly defeated David Earl Williams, who had his own baggage.
Her primary opponent, David Earl Williams III, 30, is decidedly more moderate in his views, but comes with his own liabilities as a candidate. A former girlfriend filed a domestic violence protection order against the Navy veteran.
He is currently fighting a judge’s ruling that he attend anger management classes and undergo a mental health assessment. The charges that he tried to get his former partner fired from her job and kicked out of school by impersonating her online, Williams said, are all a big misunderstanding.
Williams is seeking a recount of the results.
As of this writing, Atanus had not pointed to any scientific evidence linking gays to tornadoes, dementia, or autism.