CHAMPAIGN — This year’s primary election for the Champaign County Board has only one contested race. The seat for District 6, a neighborhood in northern Champaign County, has two candidates on the Democratic ballot, both first-time candidates for local government: Chyna Figueroa-Dixon and Ryan Musgrove.
With no Republican candidates in the race, the winner of the Democratic primary will replace Dennise Arres whose term ends this year.
Figueroa-Dixon, a community organizer who works in health care, said her campaign builds on her ongoing efforts to address gun violence in her community. She said she was first prompted to organize community meetings to discuss the issue in 2024, after two young boys in the 6th District were shot and killed.
She said her platform is to set a good example for children, especially children of color, because of the hurdles they face.
“My goal ultimately is to just change the ideas of what they think is cool. I really want to promote excellence and promote being better across all races,” Figueroa-Dixon said.
Musgrove, an arborist with the Champaign County Park District, said he was exposed to issues concerning local government through his job and decided to run for the Champaign County Board after a friend told him a seat in his district had opened up.
He said his platform focuses on affordable housing and addressing homelessness.
“I’m in the parks a lot, and I see the homeless and what they go through… and it’s become very personal to me,” Musgrove said. “I know that there is a very large need for housing, and it’s getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Musgrove said that he hopes to implement housing-first initiatives, which provides permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness. One of his action items is to keep the Strides homeless shelter open.
Figueroa-Dixon said one of her action items is to make adjustments to the county budget. She said she believes Champaign County is holding back funds for vital community services.
She also said she wants to ensure quorum is consistently followed when placing items on the County Board agenda.
“We just need to make sure we’re making everybody follow the same rules so that everybody gets a fair chance and everyone’s heard in the correct ways,” Figueroa-Dixon said.
Musgrove said he also wants to focus on extending high-speed Wifi access to people across the county. He said Champaign County faces a rural-urban divide, and having access to better Wifi will provide more opportunities for people living in rural places.
“Increased broadband access is good for jobs, it is good for telehealth accessibility. It’s good for education, and it’s good for rural economic viability,” Musgrove said.
When asked what he wants voters to know about him, Musgrove said he wants to bring his working-class perspective to the board.
“I’m working class. I don’t have a background in finance. I’m not a lawyer. I’m just a guy who has relied on these services before, and I work in an area where I kind of see how they operate on the ground level,” he said.
Figueroa-Dixon said she wants voters to know that, as a single mom who works in health care, it’s her passion to care for people. She described herself as the change candidate.
“I’m very solution-based. I’ve said on platforms before that I am all down for hearing someone’s complaints,” Figureoa-Dixon said. “If we can complain for 10 minutes, let’s work on the solution for 30.”
Early voting for the Primary Election has already started and the polls will open on March 17.