Congressional Candidate Chip Markel Visits Effingham

(CHIP MARKEL)

The new 12th Congressional District of Illinois, come January, will be one of the largest geographic districts in the nation. It will involve 34 counties in Illinois; that's one-third of the counties in the state.

Whoever wins the November election will be busy trying to keep in touch. One of the hopefuls for the Democratic nomination in the 12th District says that will be tough to do, but he wants the opportunity to try.

Chip Markel was born in Alton, but his family moved to the Chester area when he was 10 years old. He is a Navy veteran and worked as a correctional officer in the prison system. Markel was also actively involved in union bargaining during his time in corrections.

Here is Greg Sapp's conversation with Congressional candidate Chip Markel...

Markel is running against Joshua Qualls of Centralia for the Democratic nomination. The winner of the June primary will take on Republican incumbent Congressman Mike Bost of Edwardsville in the November general election.