Darin LaHood

Incumbent Republican Darin LaHood and Democratic challenger Paul Nolley debated key political issues in a forum for Illinois' 16th Congressional District.

LaHood defended his support for the war with Iran, while Nolley criticized it as a disaster that has not benefited the U.S.

The candidates held opposing views on the deployment of ICE, with LaHood supporting the agency and Nolley calling its methods wrong.

PEORIA — Longtime U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Peoria, is facing a stiff challenge from a political newcomer in November's midterm elections.

Democrat Paul Nolley, a 37-year-old from Rockford, is trying to unseat LaHood in the Illinois 16th Congressional District.

On Monday, the two candidates participated in a forum at WTVP in Peoria where they were asked a series of questions about some of the country's most pressing political issues.

The forum aired on WTVP on Thursday night.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the showdown between Nolley and LaHood.

LaHood steadfast in support of Iran War

LaHood, who has long been a supporter of the Iran war, doubled down in his support for the conflict during the forum, despite its growing unpopularity with the American public.

He called Iran a "terrorist entity" which he said is ruled by religious zealots and a theocracy that calls for "death to America." He framed the conflict so far as a success.

"I am happy today they have no more ballistic missiles. I am happy today they have no more nuclear capability. I am happy today they don't have anymore hypersonics, their navy has been destroyed," LaHood said. "The cancer they are in the Middle East is gone for now. Is there consequences for that? Of course. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed down, that's hurt energy prices, but it doesn't take away from the fact they will be worse off because of the action we have taken. So, I support the president's effort in going after them. I am happy they don't have a nuclear weapon and capability and we got to continue to move forward."

When asked by reporters after the forum what success would look like in the U.S. war with Iran, LaHood said the current goal would be to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened.

"We can't allow Iran to hold (the Strait of Hormuz) hostage," LaHood said. "That doesn't just affect us, it affects the rest of world also. So, getting the Strait of Hormuz opened up and a secure passageway there has to happen, that would be success."

When countered by a reporter that the Strait of Hormuz was open before the war started, LaHood doubled down on his previous statements that Iran had murdered 50,000 of its own citizens.

"Secondly, if you look at our allies in the Middle East, they were all subject to Iran's tyranny. To be able to use nuclear, hypersonic, their naval capabilities to be able to strike Israel, to strike UAE, to strike Kuwait, to strike Qatar, they can't do that anymore because of what we've been able to do," LaHood said. "The Middle East is safer because of what we've done in Iran. Not allowing them to have a nuclear weapon makes the world safer. Those are all positive things."

Nolley, on the other hand, called the war a "disaster" and said it has achieved nothing for the U.S. He also said LaHood's statement that Iran was out of ballistic missiles was untrue and then cited a recent attack on U.S. bases in the Middle East in which ballistic missiles were used.

"This is a disaster, you know, we need to learn the lessons of history," Nolley said. "If you look at Vietnam, if you look at Iraq and Afghanistan, what did that accomplish for any of us? Did that help you? Did that help your family? Or did it only spend trillions of our taxpayer dollars and have the lives of so many of our best people lost. That's what it does. There is a time for war and conflict when absolutely necessary. This is not the right path. This is not helping our country. This is not helping you and this is not helping the issue we need to address here. Yes, they are an evil regime, but this is not the way forward and the vast majority of Americans agree with me."

Candidates seek to cast opponent in political castes

In sticking with national talking points set by Republicans and Democrats running in midterm elections nationwide, both Nolley and LaHood sought to place their opponent into a particular political group.

LaHood said Nolley was supported by the Democratic Socialists of America and also said Nolley was a supporter of open borders. Nolley said both of these claims were a lie.

Nolley, meanwhile, tried to paint LaHood as a staunch MAGA ally and supporter of President Trump. Democrats nationwide have tried to make Trump the center of midterm elections as the president's approval rating continues to dip.

LaHood, Nolley, disappointed in Trump media bans

Last month the Trump administration moved to ban media outlets such as Politico, CNN and MS Now from covering the White House, sparking backlash from the news media and outcry from First Amendment advocates who have called the ban unconstitutional.

Nolley said during the forum these types of bans were pushing the United States closer toward being an authoritarian country, akin to China. He, too, lambasted the Trump administration's taxpayer funded ads which echoed talking points from Trump's campaigns.

"We have taxpayer funded propaganda highlighting a politician while regular working people are struggling to make ends meet ... this is crazy stuff guys," Nolley said. "This is shameful, and people like Darin LaHood should be shouting from the rooftops that this is not the America we want our kids to inherit."

LaHood said he doesn't believe the White House should be banning media outlets.

"I support a free press, I support the ability for television stations and media outlets to report, whether that's on Congress or the White House," LaHood said. "I may not like in my own district what reporters say or television stations say or other outlets, but I think they ought to be there. That's part of our fourth branch of government and our democracy and I am going to continue to a free press. I think it's important to the future of this country and our democracy."

LaHood did not answer the part of the moderator question that asked about the taxpayer funded ads Trump ran for himself.

Candidates differ drastically in opinions of ICE

One of the most controversial subjects of Trump's second term has been the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers across the country as part of a broad effort to combat illegal immigration in the United States.

Killings of civilians in places like Minneapolis supercharged the issue on a national scale and has created a deep rift between Democrats and Republicans on immigration.

LaHood said during the forum he favors reforms to legal immigration but added he is proud to support ICE. He said "thank God" Trump ran on immigration and fixed the system.

"I am proud to support our ICE agents, I am proud to support our customs and border folks, to support the rule of law," LaHood said.

LaHood also cast Nolley as in favor of "open borders," a claim Nolley said was a lie.

Nolley, however, said the Trump administration has done well to secure the border but said the way ICE has been deployed is wrong.

"This is bad policy, this is a bad approach to immigration," Nolley said. "We have seen of course our citizens shot in the street by a masked federal force, this should raise alarm bells for everyone across the political spectrum."

LaHood, Nolley speak on data centers, Flock cameras

Touching on two hot-button political issues, LaHood and Nolley had similar stances on data centers popping up across the country but did not see eye to eye on the advent of Flock cameras.

LaHood and Nolley both said decisions on data center construction need to be made locally. Both candidates also advocated for transparency on how data centers would use electricity and water where they are built.

"Any decision that gets made at a local level needs to be made by local officials," LaHood said. "That could be a village board, that could be a city council, that could be a county board. It should not be made by elected officials at the state level or the federal level."

LaHood, however, said the United State has to win the "strategic competition" against China when it comes to AI.

"It is existential for the future of this county that we win the AI and quantum race, but it has to be done the right way," LaHood said. "The right way is working with locals to get that done."

Nolley also highlighted the need to understand the issues around data centers and artificial intelligence.

"We have to get our arms wrapped around this issue," Nolley said. "A big reason why people are really worried about data centers is because they are anxious about what artificial intelligence is going to do and they understand that data centers are going to facilitate that rise, they need that compute power to have artificial intelligence, super intelligence, recursive self-learning, all of that."

Nolley favors federal legislation that would dictate that data centers must provide their own energy so as not to raise costs on common consumers.

"We need to make sure we are not giving them a single dime in federal taxpayer dollars," Nolley said. "We also need to make sure that when there is water use, when there is water discharge, anything going on like that, the people in those areas have to know, there has to be transparency. Local communities need to be in charge of what facilities are built in their area."