The Candidate: Robert 'Bobby' Todd Schilling
The Race: Republican Party Candidate for the 17th Congressional District
The Competition: Cheri Callahan Bustos
The Buzz: Schilling is a pizzeria owner and real estate agent. He was elected to the U.S. House in 2010 and was notably the first Republican elected to his district in almost three decades.
Schilling is against government control to lower healthcare costs and expand coverage. He supports increasing tax incentives towards the purchase of insurance, creating small business association health plans and reducing fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid.
He is strongly against the 2010 healthcare reform and aims to replace it with a bipartisan reform that will address rising health care costs.
Schilling is against abortion and stem cell research and has taken a pledge to refuse annual Congressional pay raises. He also refuses to accept the government health insurance plan and pension.
