(WSIL) -- Preston Gabriel Nelson looks young but he's not new to politics.
The 33-year-old first ran for office in 2018, in the Republican Primary against incumbent Mike Bost.
In 2020, Nelson ran as a Libertarian, in the general election for the U.S. House 9th District in Illinois.
Two years later, he again ran as a Libertarian, in the Illinois Treasurer's race.
He lost all three races.
Now, he's running as a Democrat for the right to advance to the general election in the U.S. House 12th District race.
I asked Nelson about his many changes in party affiliation.
"I'm not a fan of party politics," he explained. "If I had my way, we'd throw this entire two party system right out the window. The voters, they're not even voters anymore, they're so disillusioned by the two party politics that they don't even take the time to vote."
He claims, by running in the previous races as a Republican and a Libertarian, he's seen issues from all sides.
"It doesn't just help me in this race," said Nelson, "it will help me to govern better in Washington, to really work on all sides of the aisle for the issues that just don't matter for one or the other party but for the people, for our local district especially."
Nelson currently lives in Lebanon but has lived and worked in other areas of the district.
He is an inventor and claims to have patents on several items involving the medical and solar industries.
He faces an uphill battle in the general election, since the 12th District is a Republican stronghold.
"I can win the general election," Nelson claimed, "a typical Democratic candidate has a very uphill battle here. That's not to say it won't be challenging for me but I'm willing to do the work, I'm willing to travel from one end of this district to the other, to not just meet with Democratic voters but to meet with all of the people."
When asked about the key issues in this race, Nelson said, "the economy and immigration."
Two topics, he says, impact each other. "One of my biggest passions is the economy and fixing this inflation, I was talking about inflation before it was a hot button issue. I went on my own volition and studied economics at Rend Lake College because I wanted to be better prepared to tackle these issues for the people."
Nelson added, "Immigration, historically, is a big boost to our economy. We need to end the politics on both sides that never gets anything done. We need to simplify the immigration process for qualified applicants because right now there isn't one."
Nelson refers to himself as a "Blue Dog Democrat."
Blue Dogs are moderate Democrats that traditionally are fiscally and socially conservative.
"There aren't many of those left in Washington," said Nelson, "but I'm willing to bring it back."
Nelson's challenger, Brian Roberts, declined an interview for this story.
Roberts, who is a Carbondale attorney, told us, at this time he is focusing his attention on a new product he's developed, called "Chillware."
The Illinois primary is March 19th but early voting is already underway.
For more on Preston Nelson's campaign, you can find that .
