ASBL 29: Kevin Ryan, 2026 Senate Candidate for Illinois

ASBL 29: Kevin Ryan, 2026 Senate Candidate for Illinois

Kevin Ryan is running as a Democrat to be U.S Senator from Illinois, “to make our government work for all of us by removing the corrupting influence of money from our politics.” Learn all about him at RunWithKev.com.

Chicago Public School teacher and U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a graduate degree in diplomacy; had assignments through the Pentagon and Treasury Department; got a second graduate degree in national security from Georgetown University.

We discussed getting “big money, corporate money out of politics. Make our representatives work for us,” and amending the Constitution to 1) codify Congress’ authority to regulate elections, so it can establish spending limits in elections as it has in the past, 2) codify that corporations are not people; they do not have the rights, privileges, and protections that people have; and 3) codify that money is not speech.

There is widespread support for this. “72% of Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, want spending limits.” Candidates backed by corporate money (and by the major parties, who also get big money from corporations) cannot be competed with. Half of Illinois’ legislators faced no opponents in the primary nor in the general election of 2024. Kevin said, “Taking money out of politics is the first step toward getting competitive elections.”

As Bruce de Torres, host, understood it, by getting big money and the parties out of the candidate-selection process, candidates who will actually work for the people will more easily get on the ballot.

And we discussed small business issues, particularly the American Small Business League’s reasons for wanting to raise from 5% to 15% the federal contract dollars that must go to women-owned small businesses.

Women are half the population. They own 40% of all businesses. But they get less than 5% of federal contract dollars. Men get at least 95%.

Without economic fairness, women can’t be political equals.

Men dominate in politics because they earn and save more than women. Men (and companies owned by men) give more to politicians and therefore have more influence. It’s easier for men to run for office. Men hold roughly 75% of seats in the House, Senate, State Legislatures, and cabinet positions, almost that many governorships, and 90% of committee chair and party leadership positions.

Raising from 5% to 15% the amount of federal contract dollars that must go to women-owned small businesses would raise the amount going to small businesses in general from 23% to 33%, pump $264 billion dollars into our economy, and create 3.3 million jobs (on top of the 2 million jobs that America typically creates).

That’s because every 1% increase of contracts to small businesses creates 100,000 new jobs, according to the Senate small business committee Chair in 2010.

Women own over 14 million businesses generating $2.7 trillion in revenue, employing over 12 million workers, spanning all major industries, with increasing representation in finance, insurance, real estate, transportation, and warehousing. They sell what the federal government buys.

Learn more about Kevin at RunWithKev.com and more about the American Small Business League at ASBL.com.

The American Small Business League is an advocacy group working to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to big businesses. Our Don’t Cheat Women project (DontCheatWomen.com) seeks economic fairness for women so they can be political equals. Men hold more political offices and have more political influence simply because they earn and save more than women. Our economy will boom when only small businesses get “small business” contracts.

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