In this issue:

• Republican Candidates Debate for the 8^th Congressional District.

Republican Candidates Debate for the 8^th Congressional District.

These two candidates are competing to become the Republican candidate for the 8 ^th Congressional District.

Mark Rice was the CEO of Energy CX, a large energy brokerage company, providing procurement, management,and utility services in the energy industry. His business also supplies low-cost energy to data centers. He left the business in the capable hands of his two sons so he could devote his time to campaigning for Congress. He was CEO of Biofuels Technologies LLC and the founder of Trevian Youth Football. Mark ran against Raja Krishnamoorthi for this seat in 2024 and believes he has the name recognition to capture this open seat in 2026.

Jennifer Davis and her husband started Davisware Vision Software in 1988. Davisware is a global software company whose products are used by small businesses and mid-market companies dealing in construction, engineering, and food & beverages. Jennifer and her husband have ten children and says she’s running to preserve the American Dream for your children, her children, and for generations to come. She believes that Congress needs people with her experience to legislate in matters of AI, Bitcoin, and crypto.

Both candidates participated in the Republican primary debate sponsored by STRO on January 20, 2026. Here are their responses to the questions.

Question 1: What specific national policies will you propose to lower the cost of necessities like groceries and energy?

Mark Rice: I was CEO of the largest energy brokerage company in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation. When you shop online, you go through data centers. I provide energy for data centers and save them hundreds of millions of dollars… We have a lot of energy under our feet. We also need to build more nuclear power plants and do everything possible to bring down the cost of energy, which is in our homes, our groceries, manufacturing, in everything. I’m not worried about the environmental impact of data centers because the United States has access to reliable energy sources, consistent energy, not like solar and wind. There’s an abundance of natural gas, and we can build more nuclear power plants. In fact, we need more data centers to bring jobs and industry to our area. Data centers have an environmental impact on places like India and China, but not here.

Jennifer Davis: The basic costs of groceries and energy are tied to energy, so like Mark says, we must be energy independent. Bringing down the cost of energy will bring down the cost of living. Another way is by doubling the federal S.A.L.T. exemption (State and Local Tax). It won’t bring down the cost of groceries or bring down your property taxes, but it will offset the cost of your property taxes. We need to fixate on bringing business opportunities and manufacturing to our state and district by bringing in federal funding to support those opportunities and infrastructure. Also, for the cities that are dependent on Chicago water, we need to help support the water project for the Village of Schaumburg.

Question 2: What action would you take on the federal level to ensure that Illinois receives its fair share of infrastructure funding without raising taxes?

Jennifer Davis: Funding for infrastructure is where the federal government can help us the most, but we need to be especially aware of what is needed in our district. For instance, the water project I mentioned would allow municipalities that surround Chicago to circumvent Chicago to get water. These municipalities have been paying five times more for water than the City of Chicago does. We, in Congress, must work with the local mayors to understand what those projects are and how to get them federally funded.

Mark Rice : Like Jennifer said, we need to bring manufacturing jobs back and get federal funding to do that, but first we need to get government out of the way. We need to lower taxes on working families and encourage people to move here and businesses to locate here to create jobs, instead of leaving like McDonalds, Boing, and Citadel. Democrats like Pritzker and Raja have been layering on regulations that cause businesses to leave. For every new regulation we need to get rid of ten. We’ve got to reduce the size of government and make Illinois a great place to live again and a great place to create jobs. I’ve done that with my own business, but we’ve got to get rid of these leftists. We must get common sense Conservatives back into power.

Question 3: Do you support modifying the tax code, like earned income tax credits, to provide relief to lower and middle-income families facing high living costs?

Mark Rice: Yes, I do. Our taxes are much too high. What got me into politics was Steve Forbes. I was a delegate for Steve Forbes for president. His policy was to create a flat tax, at a much lower rate like 18%, and then just eliminate taxes altogether on people earning under $100,000. There are a lot of good people in Congress and senators. Not in Illinois, but nationally the Republicans are in charge. I’ve met with them, and by adding me we can get a lot of things done. I can be the one vote that gets the bill passed.

Jennifer Davis: We must make Trump’s tax cuts permanent, we must move the corporate income tax down to 15%, and we must encourage businesses to invest in this state. The only way to do this is to reduce taxes. Our government’s throughput is low, meaning when you give the government $1, they create $.20 worth of value. When I was in business, our throughput was 80%. The more money we take out of government hands and put into the hands of the people who earned it, the more opportunity we create, the more throughput we have, and the more GDP we create. Each one of those things gives working families an opportunity to stop looking to the government to solve our problems and start looking to ourselves to create our own success.

Question 3: Inflation has hit Illinois families hard. What specific action would you take to reduce inflation and lower everyday costs for working families?

Jennifer Davis: Inflation is literally just another tax. When the government prints money, they create inflation which creates more tax revenue. We have to put more money in people’s hands and reduce energy costs, so it reduces the overall cost to operate your home and support a family.

Interest rates have been high for so long. We must create interest rates that are opportunistic for first-time home buyers. We must create opportunities for these kids to have sustainable incomes and a reasonable cost of living.

Mark Rice: We agree on this. Young people today are forced to rent because inflation has made homes unaffordable and interest rates are too high. Young families don’t feel like they have a stake in ownership. The government is stealing our money through inflation. It’s all Congress’ fault. They are the ones who spend the money and write the bills that create inflation. If they were a business, they’d be bankrupt. When I get in there, we’ll change that fast.

Question 4: ( Most recently the US Supreme Court decided that President Trump’s tariffs were unconstitutional, but the candidates’ answers still provide valuable insight.) If Trump does get his way on tariffs, should those millions of dollars go to the American people in the form of DOGE checks, or go into a rainy-day fund?

Mark Rice: 100%. That money should go to us. Some of the tariffs are working, and some are a work in progress, but God bless Trump for what he’s doing. We should punish companies that bring illegals in and hire them. I own a very large company, and we don’t do that. Companies should be hiring American workers and creating American jobs. We should be rewarding companies that do with tax incentives.

Jennifer Davis: Tariffs are a way to incentivize companies to bring back jobs to America, and we’ve seen it already since Trump started the tariffs. In one year, he has motivated many businesses who left the United States to return, bringing back manufacturing and increasing middle class jobs. We need to be America First in all that we do. This will create an opportunity for our local businesses to get a fair shot in competition.

Question 5: What is your position on the use of tariffs to protect American industry and workers, and do you believe they are an effective tool or a risk to the broader economy?

Jennifer Davis: Every time you make a change and impose a tariff, that means that downstream our costs are higher. Trump is thinking futuristically. We have outsourced all our manufacturing and all our jobs and made ourselves so dependent on other countries for everything from energy to the chip sets we are using. Right now, it’s a race to AI. We must make sure we are using tariffs strategically to motivate American companies to locate here and encourage others to do the same.

Mark Rice: Tariffs are necessary. They are part of the tool kit Donald Trump needs. Previous administrations didn’t care about jobs going overseas. In fact, they were working with the CCP and Russia, rather than America First. I don’t want to attack you on this, but Jennifer, in your business, you have actually outsourced jobs to India. I have never done offshored jobs. You’ve talked about how you created jobs in India. We need to stop that.

Jennifer Davis: We did not outsource jobs; we added jobs in India. We added jobs in India while we were adding jobs here. We did not move any jobs to India. We added jobs to support our Indian workforce.

We did not ever create less jobs in America while we created more jobs in India. We had to make the best use of resources and talent, and through our India team, which I truly love, we were able to grow the business. Many of them came to America and became American citizens, legally and properly. So yes, we did grow American jobs through our growth in India.

Question 6: What steps can Congress take to increase transparency, build oversight, or pass legislation to shape future term policy?

Mark Rice: Through the efforts of DOGE, you can now go online to see the corruption that’s been going on. The fraud in Minnesota is all on video and how they were sending money offshore. Last week, I was with Nick Shirley, who exposed Minnesota’s fraud, and I’d like to bring him to Chicago. I anticipate Elon Musk getting more involved, especially if we keep the House and the Senate, so we can dominate and then we’ll have transparency.

Jennnifer Davis: The way we get transparency is using data systems and processes. I’ve spent the last 35 years building systems and processes in over 3,500 companies who all created first generation American wealth through technology we built. Through data, we can create a permanent record based on truth and fact, and then we use that data to arrive at the truth at the federal level. We need data systems and processes that give us connectivity between state, local, and federal governments to give us true transparency and passthrough. But the easiest way to increase transparency is to reduce the size of government, which is what I intend to do.

Question 7: Given the numerous treaties between the US and Denmark, do you support President Trump’s goal of gaining complete and total control of Greenland, including imposing tariffs on NATO allies who do not support President Trump’s goal?

Mark Rice: In the 1980s, I read Donald Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal . In it he explains that he doesn’t always mean the stars; but he’ll take the moon. It’s a bargaining tool. Do I think Donald Trump always means what he says? Of course, not. Sometimes Donald Trump says something crazy to set expectations and then negotiates down to arrive at where he intended to be. The Left-leaning media misses the point altogether or purposefully skews what Trump says to build the Democrat narrative. For example, Donald Trump said something about war with Venezuela, and then four days later he sent in troops to capture Nicholas Maduro. I trust Donald Trump to do what’s in the best interest of America. Donald Trump knows what he’s doing.

Jennifer Davis: When we look at the opportunity in Greenland, we see what’s happening in eastern Europe and China and know that we need to look at our own safety and be America First. We see Greenland as part of a protective dome to ensure America’s safety. I’m not at the table, but from what I see from the outside looking in, we need to recognize the threat that China and our other adversaries present. They are buying their way into many countries. Considering the proximity Greenland is to the United States, it puts us in striking distance. We need to be defensive. Seeing how Donald Trump rolls this out, we’ll see what’s best for American and that’s what we’ll do.

Question 8: What role should Congress play in authorizing wars and military engagements and how would you ensure transparency and accountability in deploying US troops overseas?

Jennifer Davis: Having a grandson in the Navy, this is a very personal matter to me. We need transparency and to know where our allies stand. Our country has been taken advantage of. We have been funding the world and gutting our own country.

On an airplane, they always tell the mother to take care of herself before she takes care of her children. We must put America first. From a military perspective, we must ensure peace through strength. (Vladamir Putin) is not checking what is legal or right; he’s not checking to see if anyone agrees with him, he’s going to do what’s in his own best interest, so we must create peace through strength by ensuring that we have the best equipped, best prepared military.

Mark Rice: We both agree about peace through strength, but the question was about transparency and how we engage our military in foreign lands. I just want to tell you that Congress is dirty. It’s the worst place to keep a secret…These guys are making money; they come in poor and come out wealthy. We need to elect a leader, a Commander-In-Chief, who will do what’s best to keep America safe for our children and grandchildren. What we don’t need is a Congress, filled with lifetime politicians, to be privy to what we’re doing ahead of time. I trust Donald Trump to do what’s in our country’s best interest.

Question 9: As a member of Congress, would you support federalizing the National Guard to enforce federal immigration laws, and if so, wouldn’t it be in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act?

Mark Rice: I don’t think so in response to the last part of your question. But for the first part, 100% yes. I’ve been endorsed by Tom Homan. We need ICE officers. If they can’t do their job because Pritzker and Brandon Johnson are impeding and inciting riots, the federal government can lend them some support. I say thank you!

Jennifer Davis: The first thing I intend to do when I get to Congress is to enact the Remain in Mexico Act and make sure it is enforced. That would prevent states from being sanctuary states and cities from being sanctuary cities. That would mitigate the need for ICE to enforce immigration in our cities. Our immigration laws need to be strong, protected and unviolated. If we need National Guard to support our immigration services, that’s what we should do. I have a son and a son-in-law who are both federal law enforcement officers. When I see the abuse that these federal officers are subjected to and how these ICE agents are being treated for doing their job, I take it very personally. They are working tirelessly to ensure safety. When I think about the National Guard, we should be using them to keep our country safe and our states in line with the federal government.

Question 10: How can Congress better support the national guard for readiness for natural disasters, civil unrest, and emergency response without overburdening the members and their families?

Jennifer Davis: The National Guard is primarily there to protect our country and help in times of emergency. We need to enable them, not with more money, but with better leadership and transparency. We’ve spent far too long allowing politicians to manage money ineffectively. If they (politicians) were running a business, they’d be fired or bankrupt. The National Guard needs to create the outcomes for the roles they are in.

Mark Rice: The National Guard has been used for jobs they are not prepared or trained to do, to be babysitters for the illegals who are coming in. What’s even worse is where did all the money for FEMA go? Some of it went to the drunk spenders in Washington, and a lot of it went to house, feed, provide cell phones, and do everything for illegal immigrants.

OTHER CANDIDATES: For information about other candidates in additional races on the March 17 ballot, please go the Schaumburg Township Republican Organization website at www.stgop.org.

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STRO Events at www.stgop.org/events

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