DeKALB | State Congressman Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-IL) will be spending two more years in Springfield, following his victory over challenger Chuck Sauer.

Pritchard expressed his gratitude for the help he received from his campaign volunteers in his speech to about 30 republicans at the DeKalb County Republican Headquarters, immediately following his victory.

Pritchard has been a member of the Illinois House of Representatives since he was appointed in 2003.

Pritchard said he is strongly against the state funding programs that do not produce results.

“We need to be responsible with this state and how we spend our money,” Pritchard said.

Pritchard said the state government has not changed over the past 30 years and needs to be adapted to current issues.

“We’ve borrowed money, we’ve swept money from dedicated funds, we’ve done just about everything wrong that this state could do, and that’s what we have got to change,” Pritchard said.

After the outcome of the election was announced, Pritchard said he received a call from Sauer and in their conversation they concluded that they agreed on many key issues.

“It’s going to take Democrat and Republican votes to do the right things,” Pritchard said.

High on his priorities, Pritchard said he is concerned about school funding from early childhood all the way to higher education.

“We need the state to step up and pay its fair share of education,” Pritchard said.

Also on his priorities, Pritchard said he thinks the state health care system needs to be tweaked, not only to make affordable care available to people, but also fix the problems with health care that drive doctors out of the state.

“We haven’t made pensions, we haven’t paid our medicaid bills on time and we’re destroying our health care system,” Pritchard said.

Pritchard said he wants to be known as a trustworthy and hard working politician. He also commented on the negative ads during this campaign, saying that there are too many now and politicians should be talking about what they can do differently.

Disappointed with voter turnout, Pritchard wants people to be more interested in voting and would like to see an 80 percent voter turn out.

Dan Stone is a Campus Reporter for the Northern Star.