down, saying: "He's all yours now." The Illinois AFL-CIO Executive Board voted on December 17, 2015 to endorse Juliana Stratton for State Representative in the Democratic Primary Election for the 5th District. Stratton is taking on incumbent Ken Dunkin, who has sided with Gov. Bruce Rauner, casting controversial votes against the interests of working families. Her opponent is long-time incumbent Dunkin, who has not hidden his alliance with Rauner, whose anti-worker proposals are not moving in the General Assembly. On several occasions, Dunkin's vote would have made the difference on issues including child care eligibility, funding for services for seniors and the disabled and an arbitration mechanism to keep state services functioning in the event of bargaining impasse. "There needs to a change in the 5th District," AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan said. "The voters will know that there is a person in this race that cares about her community and not political alliances. As she has been all of her life, she will be their voice." There are nearly 16,000 members of union families in the 5th House District. Many prominent Democrats in Illinois officially endorsed Dunkin's opponent, Julia Stratton, including his "mentor" Jesse White White expanded upon his endorsement, saying "I always say when you take on a job, you take on the responsibility for everybody," White said. "In the case of Ken Dunkin, he has been a big disappointment to me and to his constituents, to the people of the state of Illinois and to the people of the 5th District. The message is they can no longer afford Ken Dunkin." […] Opponents of Ken Dunkin's re-election campaign have recently distributed a mailer showing Rep. Dunkin in a police mugshot from 1996. The ad was attributed to paid for by Ald. Brendan Reilly's 42nd Ward Democratic Organization. Crain's Chicago Business referred to the message of the ad as 'brutal'. On March 7, 2016, Representative Dunkin's opponent, attorney Juliana Stratton, announced that the President of the United States had personally endorsed her in the upcoming primary. The endorsement came just weeks after Representative Dunkin claimed that the President had given him a "shout out" and "reaffirmed" Dunkin's decision to side with Republican Governor Bruce Rauner on a number of key issues. When the President Obama was addressing the Illinois General Assembly, the POTUS said reaching political compromise across the aisle "doesn't make me a sellout to my own party."