SPRINGFIELD — In a precursor to next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois Democrats led by Gov. JB Pritzker gathered at the State Fair on Wednesday to extol the energy they say Vice President Kamala Harris has brought to the presidential campaign.
“Can you feel the electricity across the nation for our next president, Kamala Harris?!” Pritzker shouted to applause from hundreds of people at the annual Democratic County Chairs’ Brunch in the Bank of Springfield Center. “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: Madame President.”
The celebratory gathering of the state’s Democrats, both at the brunch and the state fairgrounds, was an occasion to keep the focus on issues including reproductive and workers’ rights three months ahead of the election, while also warning of the danger they say Republican Donald Trump poses to some of those rights as well as to democracy itself.
“We cannot allow Donald Trump to come back as president, right? I’m just saying,” Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said at the fairgrounds. “We’ve got a convicted felon. Con man. Liar. … We already had him as president once and all that brought us was unmitigated disaster, an unmanaged pandemic, death, debt and division, which we are still suffering from today and will only get worse should he have access to the power of the presidency again.”
The vote for president is the only statewide race in Illinois but President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris has provided Democrats newfound momentum.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin praised Biden for passing the baton to Harris, calling it a “selfless decision for America.” The second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Durbin also touted Harris’ time as a U.S. senator from California, when they served together on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“She was sharp. She was tough. She knew the issues. And she never backed down. And that’s why she’s going to win in November,” said Durbin, who currently chairs the committee.
Durbin said Harris has reenergized the electorate. “This is an energy that you can’t buy and you can’t fake. And this is what’s driving Donald Trump bat crazy,” Durbin said at the brunch.
Harris is the first female Black and Asian American major party presidential candidate. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Black woman with four daughters, said that’s important for her children because “you can’t be what you can’t see.”
“But I want to make it clear. This is not just about Kamala Harris being a woman, or a Black woman or a South Asian woman,” said Stratton, who wore a shirt reading “Kamala for Everybody.” “This is about her being the most qualified person to be president of the United States and the one who can beat Donald Trump.”
Pritzker was on the short list to be Harris’ running mate before she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week. While that raised Pritzker’s national profile, the second term governor is now in the role of loyal soldier to the Harris-Walz campaign as he ponders his own political future.
On a stage on the director’s lawn of the fairgrounds, Pritzker said Illinois has become “a true beacon for people all across the United States” and that the thousands descending on Chicago for the DNC next week will see that.
“They’re going to see a state where Democrats deliver,” the governor said. “I just want to say how excited I am that next week on the floor of the convention I get to extol the virtues of the state of Illinois and all the Democrats in Illinois and we’re going to be chanting “Kam-a-la! Kam-a-la! Kam-a-la! Kam-a-la!”
The Democrats took shots at Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance for his remark about “childless cat ladies” and defended Walz against Republican attacks on his military record. Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard but the GOP claims he misled the public to believe he was in a combat zone when he never was.
Pritzker also sought to highlight Walz’s much-discussed likeability.
“When I go home and tell dad jokes, I get a groan. When Tim Walz stands in front of a crowd, tells a dad joke, people cheer,” Pritzker said, drawing laughter. “I’m so proud that we’re going to have somebody in that vice president’s office who will stand up for us dads.”
Surveys conducted earlier this month by The New York Times and Siena College showed Harris ahead in the Midwest battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by four percentage points, a notable reversal since Biden stepped down from the race in July after a shaky debate performance against Trump the month before. Prior polls had shown either a slight lead for Trump over Biden or the two in a tie.
Illinois is considered a virtual lock for Harris in November as no Republican presidential candidate has won the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Trump lost Illinois in each of the last two elections by 17 percentage points.
Democrats control every Illinois constitutional office, hold five of the seven seats on the state Supreme Court and enjoy supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. Up for election in November are all 118 state House seats and 23 of the 59 state Senate seats, as well as all 17 congressional seats.
Democrats hold a 14-3 edge in congressional seats, but that lopsided advantage could change slightly after November. In the northwest and west central Illinois 17th Congressional District, for instance, freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen of Moline is being targeted by national Republicans and their nominee, Joe McGraw of Rockford.
At the brunch, Sorensen acknowledged that his campaign could get a boost with Harris at the top of the ticket.
“I remember the very first time that I voted for a president. I remember the very first time I voted for Barack Obama in 2008. I had this energy in me,” said Sorensen, who was among several Illinois congressional Democrats to call for Biden to not run for reelection. “I couldn’t explain it but I knew I was doing something so important for our country. That is what people are feeling today. That’s what needs to continue every day until Nov. 5 because when that happens, I get reelected.”
On Thursday, the state’s Republicans have their day at the fairgrounds.
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