Sean Casten represents the single largest Palestinian population in any congressional district in the United States. His constituents have pleaded with him online and at town halls to stop funding the genocide in Gaza. But Casten does not listen. 

Moraine Valley alum Joey Ruzevich is running to actually serve the people who vote for him in Illinois’s sixth congressional district. Ruzevich’s campaign joins the growing trend of progressive candidates representing change sought by voters disillusioned with Washington.

Velocity sat down with Ruzevich to understand his positions and the editorial board decided to endorse him. We urge you to vote for him in the primary on March 17.

Ruzevich has ties to Orland Park and Mt. Greenwood, attending Carl Sandburg, Brother Rice High School and Moraine Valley before leaving for Loyola University in New Orleans. Since returning from a two-year pro basketball stint in Germany, he has lived his life as a software engineer and small business owner.

The Democratic primary candidate is challenging Casten, who Ruzevich says “needed to be primaried.”

“Rep. Casten was not meeting with his constituents–his Arab, Muslim constituents,” Ruzevich said. “He was not concerned about their concerns.”

At a March 2025 town hall, a protester urged Casten to stop funding arms to Israel. “If you would like to run for office, run for office,” Casten rebutted.

Ruzevich’s outreach coordinator, Rima Najia, is Palestinian and expressed frustration with Casten’s approach–with “always going through the town hall meetings, and (being) thrown out for having the audacity to talk to him and ask him questions about his policies. When he doesn’t like our question, he throws it out.” 

Casten’s career in politics has seen him take $208,000 from Pro-Israel interest groups and $470,000 in corporate PAC money in 2024 alone. Ruzevich has pledged he will not take corporate PAC money and will root corruption out of politics.

Ruzevich’s focus on constituents’ needs extends beyond concerns related to Palestine. His number one issue? “The cost of living crisis.”

“My electricity bill has skyrocketed,” he said “Groceries are three to four times what they were just a few years ago…Housing, and just all of the basics of life are far, far too outside of reach.”

Ruzevich wants to break up risk-adverse, profit-prioritizing monopolies and outlaw price gouging. Regulating AI to help attack algorithmic price-fixing is another point of emphasis.  

Proposals from politicians like Ruzevich are sometimes regarded as too austere or impractical. But like left-flank Democrats who have recently won elections or garnered momentum on the campaign trail, Ruzevich straightforwardly talks about policy meant to benefit the working class.

On his campaign website, Ruzevich has an extensive list of issues he would tackle in Congress. Many of his stances provide solutions to problems concerning ordinary Americans, such as establishing universal healthcare and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars. 

Ruzevich is part of a wave of new energy in politics, seeking to repave a path for the working class and faulting timid Democrats in Congress for the current state of affairs.

To Ruzevich, officeholders like Casten bear much of the blame.

“Sean Casten is a middle-of-the-road, non-wavemaker Democrat,” Ruzevich said. “He does not challenge leadership. He does not seek leadership positions. And the leadership of the Democratic Party is the reason why we are in the situation we are today, why Trump was allowed to be reelected.”

Democrats could be doing more, he said: “They’re specifically choosing not to be an opposition party. And I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

Ruzevich is the kind of fresh face and staunch advocate for his constituents we need in Washington. He represents the shake-up America needs.

Election day is Tuesday, March 17. A vote for Ruzevich is a vote to have someone in Congress who will listen to constituents and act on their behalf. It’s a vote to stop the funding of genocide overseas and empower the working class at home.

It’s a vote for true leadership.

Primary election day is March 17: You can register to vote here or find your nearing polling place here.

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FEATURED IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM/JOEY RUZEVICH/MARIE NEWMAN

The editorial board of Velocity consists of student editors Emily Stephens, Sean Fei and Manny Orozco. The board comes to a consensus on the publication’s position on important issues, and a writer is assigned to capture that position in an editorial.

Velocity is written and edited by students of Moraine Valley Community College, and they are solely responsible for its editorial policy and content. Velocity does not represent the views of Moraine Valley Community College or its faculty, staff or administration.