George Gollin, 60, a University of Illinois physicist from Champaign, announced Tuesday that he is joining the race with incumbent Republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville, GOP challenger Erika Harold of Urbana, and Democrat Ann Callis, a retired judge from Edwardsville.

In announcing his candidacy before a small crowd on Democrat Day at the Champaign County Fair, Gollin noted that Congress used to "put alliances aside and work together to solve problems that we face. They would compromise to effect solutions to the problems that confronted us. Alas, it is no longer this way."

Gollin asserted that "we need different people in Congress."

Without mentioning Callis, he said that "Congress is a place that's filled with lawyers. Now the law is an honorable profession, but lawyers are trained to argue and trained to dispute facts. What we need are people who work with facts."