Bost earns victory in the Illinois 12th

What looked to be a tight race in the last couple weeks of the campaign morphed quickly into an easy victory for congressman Mike Bost of Murphysboro last week as he won re-election to the 12th Congressional District in southern Illinois.

Bost declared victory just before 10 p.m. Nov. 6 over St. Clair State's Attorney and Democratic candidate Brendan Kelly.

"I'm incredibly proud of the campaign we put together. We fought hard, focused on the issues, and always made Southern Illinois values our top priority," Bost said in a statement released via email.

"It's the honor of a lifetime serving southern Illinois in our nation's capital, and I'm looking forward to doing so for another term."

Bost earned 134,009 votes, just over 17,000 more than Kelly's 116,985. Southern Illinois University professor Randy Auxier, the Green Party candidate, ran a distant third in the race, capturing 7,823 votes.

Bost said that returning to a Democrat-controlled House is not a problem.

"I was in a Democrat House in Illinois for 18 years," he said. "We're still working with the president to achieve our goals."

He said he hopes to focus on things like infrastructure and health care.

"I hope they don't go down the path of doing investigations," he said. "It's fine if you've got a legitimate reason to look into something, but if it's the resist movement, we've got better things to do."

On the question of the president's tax returns, Bost said that turning over personal returns "has always been their own choice … now we're going to make it a law to show tax returns? Do we want everyone who runs for office to show returns?"

Bost said he believes those documents are "still personal."

Bost said he still supports securing the border. "I voted for funding the wall twice," he said, noting that the wall would not be a total physical structure.

"It will be electronic monitoring, a fence, in some places," he said, "but we have to secure the border. It's wise as well as beneficial for the safety of the country and for those who want to come here legally. We have to have a sensible control over our country."

Bost noted that this "should have been done with Tip O'Neill. That was a promise to Ronald Reagan from Tip O'Neill."

O'Neill, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was the 47th speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987.

Bost said that the resignation of Jeff Sessions came as no surprise.

"He had already given the resignation to the president to hold until Trump thought there was a change needed."

He said was "was monitoring" the situation, but he would "love to see Trey Gowdy" in that position.

"Gowdy is a natural," he said. "His ability as a prosecutor over the years would put him in the right position."

Gowdy, a Republican, is a former federal prosecutor currently serving as the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 4th Congressional District.

Bost said he's not sure how the committee assignments will play out in the new Congress, but he hopes to retain his position on the transportation committee.

He also said that "figuring out the health care situation" is a priority.

"This isn't just a campaign argument," he said. "We've got to reduce costs in health care and still take care of pre-existing conditions."

He also said that reducing the costs of medicines needs to be addressed, possibly by reducing patent times to ensure that generic forms are available faster.

As Bost prepares for his second term, Kelly said he has no regrets.

"We were aggressive, put our best foot forward, and worked as hard as we could," he said. "From the very beginning, every member of the Kelly Coalition threw his or her heart into our campaign. We knocked doors, talked to folks, and canvassed neighborhoods from the top of Southern Illinois all the way down to the bottom. We threw it out all there, and the chips fell where they fell. "

Kelly said he hopes Congress will continue to work for the people.

"Partisan divides do not serve families in southern Illinois well," he said. "I hope that Mike Bost works with colleagues across both sides of the aisle to make sure that the interests of folks in southern Illinois are put first."

As for his future plans, Kelly said for now he will enjoy the time he has to spend with his family. "I'm only 42, and there's still lots of life to live," he said.</group><group id="