Editor’s note: Ahead of the March 17 primary, Growing Community Media is profiling the candidates running in the 7th congressional district in Illinois. Whoever wins the November election will succeed Rep. Danny Davis, who is retiring after nearly 30 years in the position. This week, GCM reported on Jazmin Robinson.
A senior-level human resources professional, Jazmin Robinson is running for Congress on her HEAL Act. It addresses the root causes of affordability and corruption with legislation for free health care and education, better access to government, and a living wage — all paid for by taxing the rich more.
“All candidates are kind of treating the symptoms of the disease, and I’m trying to cure it,” Robinson said of the HEAL Act.
In her day job, Robinson builds and manages employee benefits, both nationally and globally. She protects workers’ rights and enforces fair treatment of employees by negotiating with vendors for medical, dental and vision insurance. She also deals with large insurance companies that deny employee claims and helps to educate employees when there are changes.
“I basically do the work of Congress in the private sector,” Robinson said.
Robinson is focusing on leveraging obscure laws and identifying specific ways Congress can improve through her HEAL Act. It promises:
- Free, quality universal health care
- Free education. Some states offer free preschool, which could be implemented on a national level to keep kids engaged and out of trouble, Robinson said. Attending trade schools used to be free, covered for students by state funding, and many public colleges were founded as tuition-free institutions. “When I see other candidates say, ‘I’m going to do housing’ or ‘I’m going to help bring back child credits,’ that’s not the root cause. How about just free childcare? We can afford it,” Robinson said. “Why can’t people afford housing? Because they’re paying a ton in health care, they’re paying a ton in childcare. Childcare is a mortgage payment.”
- To amend access to government and fair markets by banning PACs and lobbyists. “If they have more influence on the government than the voter, that’s not a good thing,” Robinson said. “I’m the only candidate that I know of who’s only taking individual donations.” She cited a study done by Princeton University that shows how the bottom 90% of income earners have a near-zero impact on congressional policies. Robinson also wants to break up monopolies by amending multi-million-dollar contracts that Congress awards to one company, rather than splitting it between smaller businesses.
- Create a living wage of at least $25 per hour. If elected, Robinson wants to give credits to small businesses to help them grow and hire a grant director and coordinator in her office to help small businesses and nonprofits apply for grants.
The HEAL Act could cost up to $3 trillion per year for the federal government and save families up to $95,600 a year. Robinson said it could be funded by a fair tax plan, like the ones the United States had under Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.
“We were kind of in the same situation that we’re in now, where we have the ultra-wealthy and the poor. When they did that fair tax system, it created our middle class,” Robinson said.
About $2.2 trillion of the HEAL Act would be funded by having large corporations, millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. A similar amount is already spent on Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and could be redirected to fund free health care for everyone.
After President Donald Trump was elected to a second term and passed the Big Beautiful Bill, Robinson was looking for ways to be more politically involved. She thought of the tens of thousands of people who are going to die because they can’t afford health care and said none of the candidates had strategies to address it.
“The other thing that frustrates me is these candidates are, like, ‘I’m going to bring back money to the district.’ But how?” Robinson said.
She specifically cites community project funding, where every congressperson annually gets $10-to-20 million to improve their districts’ infrastructure, public safety and economic development. Robinson suggested using community project funding to replace lead pipes and invest in 7th district libraries and schools.
She named federal surplus personal property donations as a way to get laptops, furniture and vehicles that the federal government is no longer using into the 7th district. She said, in the bills that could accomplish these things, legislators can write earmarks that dictate that resources must go to those who need them most.
Unfair politics
Robinson said corruption in politics starts at the ballot box. Democratic and Republican candidates have to collect so many signatures to get on the ballot. According to Illinois Policy, independent candidates running for the U.S. House are, on average, required to collect nearly 18 times as many signatures as Democrats and 23 times as many as Republicans.
“That’s why there’s no independent candidates,” Robinson said. “You need a lot of money, you need a coalition, and honestly, it’s very hard to get right. Who made those rules? It’s our Illinois State Assembly. La Shawn Ford’s part of that.”
Robinson added that, once elected, congresspeople can join committees that help to progress legislation.
“I can draft a law, but if I don’t get on a committee, we don’t put it up and vote for it, it doesn’t move anywhere,” Robinson said.
Members of Congress are expected to pay party dues in order to be a part of certain committees, she said. Some committee taxes can climb to millions of dollars per term.
“Where are you going to get that money if you don’t have a bunch of high donors? They tell you to call those lobbyists, PACs and the wealthy to ask for donations to give to the party and then you can get on the committee. But if you don’t do what those donors say, they’re going to primary [challenge] you and kick you out.”
That’s why Robinson wants to ban PACs and lobbyists, who have so much influence over career politicians.
“We need to stop voting for candidates that we like or that we see a lot of in the media. We got to look at the people who have less money and look at their policies,” Robinson said, along with their strategies. “You’re electing someone in probably one of the most important offices in the world that’s going to drastically impact your life.”
Aside from eliminating PACs and lobbyists, Robinson said she’d serve differently from Cong. Danny Davis by hosting quarterly town halls and educating voters more.
“That’s the biggest thing is educating my constituents and telling them what I’m doing for them. Because if I don’t show you proof that this is what we did, we brought in funds, they’re going to be like, ‘What are you doing for me?’”
When it comes to unfair politics in her personal life, Robinson said she’s not been invited to more than one forum for 7th district congressional candidates. She said she was kept out of two forums in December, one hosted by the Illinois Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Plan, National Nurses United, The People’s Lobby and ISPC and another hosted by Proviso Dems and Speaker of the Illinois House Emanuel “Chris” Welch. She said neither organization invited her to join the forum or responded when she asked to be included.
Most recently, Robinson said she wasn’t invited to the Bellwood Chamber of Commerce’s forum this month because of concerns about space and safety. The Chamber later said she could attend.
“These organizations are really doing such a disservice to voters by gatekeeping and excluding candidates from forums and are violating IRS regulations too,” Robinson said in an email.
Other Democratic candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring for Davis’s seat include Richard Boykin, Kina Collins, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, David Elrich, Anthony Driver Jr., Dr. Thomas Fisher, La Shawn Ford, Jason Friedman, Rory Hoskins, Anabel Mendoza, Reed Showalter, and Felix Tello. Republican candidates are Chad Koppie and Patricia Easley.
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