As the November 4th election day approaches, talks of whether Congressman Robert Dold or incumbent Brad Schneider, will win the race to Congress in the Illinois 10th Congressional District (IL D-10th) have spread around all communities.

The Illinois 10th Congressional District, currently represented by Schneider, contains Buffalo Grove, Beach Park, Deerfield, Fox Lake, Grayslake, Lake Bluff, Vernon Hills, Lake Forest, Prospect Heights, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Wheeling, Zion, Northbrook, Glenview, Highland Park, and Waukegan. The race to Congress in the IL D-10th is one of the most publicly followed races in Illinois, according to Progress Illinois.

The previous 2012 election led Schneider, part of the Democratic Party, into Congress after he defeated Dold, part of the Republican Party who was also running for re-election. Schneider defeated Dold by 1 percent, with him gaining 50.5 percent and Dold 49.5 percent.

With a new globalized era in progress, the campaign of both Congressmen included new technology, employment of more interns and staffers, and various coalitions with different groups.

“Bob Dold’s commitment to restoring effective, bipartisan leadership to the 10th District has attracted strong support from individuals and organizations across the community and helped our campaign build a base of diverse and dedicated coalitions that work closely with us every day,” said Victoria Williams, a staff personnel with Dold’s campaign.  “Among those coalitions are Women for Dold, Students for Dold, the Russian and Latino coalitions, Seniors for Dold,  Veterans for Dold and many more.”

The 10th District has a wealth of diversity with different and unique cultural communities, languages and ethnic backgrounds. The wide range of coalitions and individuals who support Bob Dold for Congress illustrate Bob’s commitment to representing our entire District, not just one political party or point of view, Williams said.

Along with Dold, one of Schneider’s main coalitions was “Women for Schneider”.

“Schneider is pro-women’s rights so there is a big part of his campaign that is dedicated to women voting for him,” Talia Grossman ’15, intern at Schneider’s campaign office said. Grossman has interned for Schneider since the beginning of the summer and continues to inform others about Schneider’s views and policies regarding issues around the community and the country.

With many young adults living in the IL D-10th area, the rivals have various opinions over the issues key to students such as education.

Per Dold’s official campaign website, Dold supports Impact Aid for school districts, including several schools in the IL D-10th, that serve children of military personnel living on federal property.

Impact Aid is designed to assist local United States school districts that lost property tax revenue or have been financially burdened by federal activities. The purpose of Impact Aid is to provide technical assistance and support to educators all around the country.

Aside from the policy of Impact Aid, Dold said he would also like to accomplish putting the control of education in the hands of leaders at the local level and promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education among young people.

According to Schneider’s official website, if he gets re-elected in 2014, he would like to lower the student loans, partner with community colleges for career training, and expand access to early education.

Research done by Progress Illinois stated that almost half of the IL D-10th believes in Democratic values and the other half believes in Republican values. The race to Congress is said to be very competitive.

“Given the circumstances in which our district is in, this race will be very tight.” Grossman said.

For now, both candidates are maintaining constant communication with the voters and await election day.