Illinois Democrats Thrive with Energy, But Where Will They Send It?
Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the Illinois delegation breakfast at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Monday. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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The message to Illinois Democrats on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was clear: fight, fight, fight to win.
House Speaker Chris Welch led a call and response, “Does anybody want to go in reverse?”
“No!” the Dems yelled back.
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey delivered a thunderous preacher’s-style sermon to repeated applause.
Even Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, a surprise guest at the delegation breakfast before the first day of the DNC, noted she is 10 days new to the campaign trail, saying they only have 78 days left in the election. The former school teacher told the crowd, “I’m asking you to do the work that’s in front of us.”
Illinois’ top Democrats basked in the new enthusiasm which has surged throughout the party with the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and coalesced in Chicago this week for the 2024 Democratic convention.
“We cannot change the nation and turn from a nation that's looking backward to a nation looking forward without fighting for that change,” said former longtime Illinois congressman Bobby Rush. “Change does not come unless there's a fight for change. It doesn't happen just accidentally.”
But in deep blue Illinois there’s not much left for Democrats to win over throughout the state – something Pritzker noted as he celebrated Democrats have held every statewide constitutional office and the state’s two U.S. Senate seats since 2017.
Democrats also control 14 of 17 of the state’s seats in Congress, and supermajorities in the state House and Senate.
And it is reliably blue for the top of the ticket, as Democrats have won every presidential election in the state since 1992.
Leading to the question – where do you put that energy?
“All roads in the Midwest come through Chicago,” said former Congressman Bobby Rush, a staple of Illinois Democratic politics, who was stopped often to take photos with assembled fans.
Their best efforts may run through neighboring Wisconsin and nearby Michigan, critical pieces of the Democratic “Blue Wall,” which both major party tickets see as central to a successful path to the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris has regained an edge in most recent polling of the two pivotal swing states, but vacillating Democrats who remember the shock of election night in 2016, have been reticent to leave any swing state to chance.
The repeated message to the delegates and activists eating breakfast at the Royal Sonesta in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, fighting has to translate to work – on the ground persuading voters and at the ballot box.
Amy Rueff, resource director for the Illinois AFL-CIO, said their members and her friends and family have already sent postcards and worked persuadable voters out of state, and she said there will clearly be more.
“They need to hear from us,” Rueff said. “It’s not just a fight, it’s put your feet on the ground and get it done.”