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SPRINGFIELD — Before the convention come the corn dogs and carnival rides.
In a prelude to the party’s national convention next week in Chicago, Democrats rallied in Springfield at the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday, looking to whip up excitement for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign against Republican former President Donald Trump.
Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democrats who hold all statewide offices in deep-blue Illinois praised the “spirit” of Harris’ nascent White House bid — and poked at what they deemed an “embarrassing” state of affairs for the GOP within the state and beyond.
“Can you feel the electricity across the nation for our next president, Kamala Harris?” Pritzker said at a brunch for Illinois Democratic Party chairs. “We are just days away from hosting delegates and party leaders from across this nation for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and we are 83 days away from hearing the two words this country’s waited 248 years to hear: Madam President.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the energy heading into the convention “is something we would not have imagined three and a half weeks ago.”
“It’s just a dramatic turnaround in terms of energy and unity and excitement,” Raoul told the Sun-Times before joining other state party leaders for an afternoon rally on the state fairgrounds. “You never hear of a pre-convention bump. It’s usually a post-convention bump. So we’ve got a bump before the bump, and it’s reflected in the battleground states.”
That could translate into gains for Democrats on the state level in House and Senate “districts that may not have been in play, but now they could be because of the energy on this side and the confusion on the other side,” Raoul said.
Pritzker said “Illinois Republicans are attacking the environment and voting against education and jobs, even in rural areas areas that they represent. It’s embarrassing for them. No wonder the Illinois GOP is a super minority party.”
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, likened Harris’ campaign to former President Barack Obama’s first run in 2008.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. Young voters and women are very excited about the possibility of electing a woman to be president. There’s so many boxes that are checked with Harris and [her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz. It’s easy to get excited about it,” Welch said.
During their 22-minute fairground rally, the state’s top Democrats leaned heavily into the internet jokes that have circulated in Democratic circles online in support of Harris and Walz.
“I have all kinds of hashtags working up in my head about Tim Walz. How about #DadJokes?” Pritzker said to laughs on the fairgrounds. “When I go home and tell dad jokes, I get a groan. When Tim Walz stands in front of a crowd and tells a dad joke, people cheer. I’m so proud that we’re going to have somebody in that vice president’s office who’ll stand up for us dads.”
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza followed suit in the meme-ification of the race, calling Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, “weird and creepy.”
“We cannot allow Donald Trump or JD Vance to come anywhere near the White House, much less our kids, couches or cats,” she said before moving onto the overturning of Roe v. Wade by Trump appointed Supreme Court justices.
“I think that Donald Trump has had access to way too many uteruses in his lifetime, and he shouldn’t have access to one more,” Mendoza said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said “the spirit you feel today is attributable to two people, certainly Kamala Harris… and one other person: Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden made a selfless decision you can never imagine Donald Trump making: he put his party and his country ahead of anything and personal ambition,” Durbin said.
Pritzker was later asked about Trump calling him “a real loser” during the former president’s interview with billionaire Elon Musk earlier this week on the social media platform X.
“Donald Trump was a loser in 2020. He was a loser in 2022 when he tried to endorse a whole bunch of people for office. He’s going to lose again in 2024. As I recall, I won by 16 points my first election, by 12 and a half points in my second election… We know who the winners are, and Donald Trump is the loser,” Pritzker said.
Republicans will rally at the state fair on Thursday.