DNC women delegates envision female president

The highest office in America also has the thickest glass ceiling.

But if Kamala Harris could leap to the top of the ticket in just weeks, female members of Illinois’ DNC delegation and Democrats are ready to picture a woman as president of the United States.

“I think having a woman become our next president is historic for so many reasons but for me as an African American woman … she is my wildest dreams,” delegate and Hanover Park trustee Yasmeen Bankole said.

“She inspires me to reach for the stars,” Bankole added Thursday, hours before the vice president accepted her party’s nomination.

Harris’ background as the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants resonated with delegate Aurora Austriaco of Park Ridge.

“In my lifetime I never thought we would have a Black president … a woman president, who is Black and Asian,” said Austriaco, who is Asian American. “This gives me so much pride … the fact (that) in my lifetime, we’re going to see a woman president.

“She represents all women here, no matter what box you want to check. Women can get things done. Women are smart. And, women have the drive,” Austriaco added.

Similarly, state Rep. Mary Beth Canty of Arlington Heights said she “wanted to vote for (Harris) for president in 2020. I got close. She became my vice president, and that was a really emotional time for me.

“And now to see this Black woman, this biracial woman, who feels like me, and know that she’s got a real shot at the White House is a really powerful moment,” Canty explained Thursday at an Illinois delegation breakfast.

The nation is “at the precipice of something incredibly momentous,” alternate delegate Kristina Zahorik of McHenry County said.

“I think about my own daughters and the idea that you have to see it before someone can be it. It’s just inspirational and incredible and a long time coming, frankly,” the Illinois Democratic State Central Committee member noted.

State Sen. Laura Fine also thought of her children.

If Harris is elected, “for me, it would be such a moment of pride as the mother of two boys to say, ‘we can do it,’” said Fine, a delegate from Glenview.

Many men, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, had been rumored as presidential contenders until Harris shot to the top after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July amid health concerns.

“I think unfortunately as women we’ve been overlooked, but we’re not going to allow that, we have to show our younger generation of women and our younger generation of men that we are equal,” Fine said.

In June, Mexico elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

“As the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, I cannot believe that Mexico, known for its machismo … elected a woman president before we did,” Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a speech to the delegation.

“We have a chance right now to make history.”

Elgin state Sen. Cristina Castro was in Mexico as an observer during that election.

“In this monumental year, we’re going to make ‘Herstory’ by having seen Claudia Sheinbaum be elected as Mexico’s president but (also) Kamala Harris as the U.S. president,” she noted.

“What does this say about North America that they elect two female presidents?”

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston appreciates that “women are stepping forward in so many different ways.

“People (are) excited about the first woman, the first woman of color. But I don’t think that’s the most important feeling right now. Right now, it is someone who is going to bring to average Americans the kind of country that they want to see. It’s open to everyone.”

· Daily Herald staff writer Steve Zalusky contributed to this report.