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Politics & Government

Third Candidate Enters 10th District Race

Robert McKenzie files paperwork with Federal Election Commission.

Wheeling resident and Chicago lawyer Robert A. McKenzie intends to seek the Democratic nomination for the House seat. 

Though McKenzie has yet to make a formal announcement, he has formed a committee—McKenzie for Congress—and launched a website. He filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on May 7 that indicated his intention to run. 

McKenzie is the third candidate seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose in the 2012 November election. Waukegan community organizer and Deerfield business consultant have already announced their campaigns.

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When the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation Tuesday, Dold’s home was placed in a reconfigured 9th Congressional District, which is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston). On the same day, Dold said he would run in the 10th, where the bulk of his current constituents reside. 

McKenzie, a Park Ridge native and avid aviator, intends to focus his campaign and efforts in Congress on job creation and health care. 

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“We have real problems, not only in the 10th, but in America,” McKenzie told Patch.

“We need to put people back to work like we did in FDR’s time," he said, referring to the New Deal programs used by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat the Great Depression. 

McKenzie wants to see legislation resembling the Works Progress Administration, a 1930s program that created new infrastructure through public works projects as well as fostered the arts across the U.S.

“If I win I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen,” he said. 

McKenzie also believes too many Americans have no health insurance or are underinsured.

The Health Care Reform Act was a great step forward improving the lives of Americans but there is more that can be done,” he said of the law enacted in 2010. 

An attorney at Arnstein and Lehr LLP, McKenzie represents local taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and Illinois Department of Revenue, according to information on his firm's website

McKenzie received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in electrical engineering and graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He has worked for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and was an officer in the United States Merchant Marine.

In addition to being a pilot, he is a flight instructor.

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