Republican state senator elect Jason Plummer wants to be known as a man of his word among his constituents in the 54th District.
“My first order of business in Springfield will be to move on the issues I campaigned on,” Plummer told the Metro East Sun. “Throughout the campaign, we talked about people being overtaxed and there being a lack of reform across the board. That’s where my focus will be, along with making Illinois more competitive with our neighbors and creating opportunities for people to be prosperous instead of feeling they have to go someplace else for that.”
Plummer, who knocked off Democrat Brian Stout with roughly 70 percent of the vote to replace retiring Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), said it’s imperative that residents feel state lawmakers have their best interests at heart.
“We’ve got a lot of these career politicians that are doing all right, but that’s about it,” he said. “Meanwhile, everyone else is still suffering. We need leaders that understand it’s not about padding their own pockets, and that we have to make things better for as many people as we can.”
While he admits election night could have turned out a lot better for Republicans on the whole, Plummer said he remains committed to hitting the ground running in terms of implementing his agenda.
“My focus is still the same,” he said. “People in Springfield have already had their heads in the sand for 20 years as we’ve lost population and businesses and even more people have become frustrated. We can’t just keep ignoring the problems.”
Plummer, who has vowed not to take a state pension, argues to do so will only lead to bigger problems.
“Lawmakers in Springfield can either choose to address and fix the problems they’ve created or they can let things fester, meaning at some point things will be out of their control and outside forces will move to do what has to be done,” he said. “It’s their actions that will determine what form the reforms come in and if they have a say in things.”
The 54th District includes Bond, Clinton, Effingham, Fayette, Madison, Marion, St. Clair and Washington counties
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