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* Press release…
Today, State Rep. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) stood alongside local leaders, supporters and family at IBEW Local 145 to announce his candidacy for the Illinois State Senate.
Halpin started his career in public service working in constituent services for the late Congressman Lane Evans and he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2017. He’s the current Chairman of the Rock Island Democratic Party.
“Constituent services runs deep in the work I do,” Halpin said. “It’s what I carry with me when I’m in Springfield helping to protect Illinois workers, the health of our families, and the well-being of our kids. And I will continue to prioritize this work in the Senate.”
Halpin lives in Rock Island with his wife, MaryAnn, a health care worker, and their two children who attend Rock Island public schools. He earned his law degree from the University of Illinois and his bachelor’s degree from Roger Williams University.
He’s currently Chairman of the Personnel & Pensions Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee in the Illinois House.
“Mike Halpin’s understanding of people and what makes our community thrive has made him a successful State Representative, and that will only strengthen as he becomes a State Senator,” said Cory Bergfeld, business manager for IBEW Local 145.
The Democrats created a very winnable Senate district and some SDems have hoped Halpin would run.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 12:24 pm
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A good guy all around.
Comment by King Louis XVI Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 12:40 pm
It must be nice to be a candidate for office and pick your own voters in a secret room using sophisticated computer software designed to guarantee the desired outcome.
Comment by Just Me 2 Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 12:50 pm
@ 12:40
Yep..It’s called 60 & 30 or more accurately 41-18 & 73-45.
Comment by Are You Kiddin' Me? Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 12:59 pm
===It must be nice===
Win elections.
Between Rauner and Trump, the “GOP” is mathematically likely at it’s lowest state existence, including statewide, in a least a generation?
Explain how Dems are 8-0 statewide?
Thanks.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 1:01 pm
To the actual post;
When you think about options, outside statehouse, the new congressional seat is going to be drawn out that way too. That congressional district might be drawn “red” and Kinzinger drawn “blue”. Maybe that’s in this thinking towards the state senate is the best fit.
Going to see more moves in the near future as the new timetable for petitions also gives time to campaign abd get better name ID in the short term,
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 1:08 pm
Ummm….OW, I’ll just redirect your attention to Rich’s explanation:
“The Democrats created a very winnable Senate district…”
Yeah, elections have consequences, but unfortunately we haven’t had a fair legislative map in decades. It’s lazy to blame Rauner/Trump/et all for everything. It shouldn’t matter that a past election dictates the outcome of future elections simply because the winners were then allowed to cheat.
Comment by Just Me 2 Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 1:11 pm
=== I’ll just redirect your attention to Rich’s explanation:==•
Read for comprehension…. “Win elections”
===elections have consequences, but===
Next time, stop there, but drop the “but”
===It’s lazy to blame Rauner/Trump/et all for everything.===
It was Rauner’s party… bought and paid for, keep up.
Trump lost this state by 13+ points (and then some) twice. Don’t you think Trump was/is a drag on the ticket?
===winners were then allowed to cheat.===
Narrator: Madigan’s HDems won 4 of 5 elections with a GOP leaning map.
Anything else?
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 1:16 pm
Just Me 2 - when was the last fair map drawn?
Comment by Chris Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 3:22 pm
Politics is not like professional baseball, basketball or football, where we devise a series of schemes/regulations designed to prevent the winningest teams from accumulating advantages that lead to more revenue, and then more winning, until pretty soon you are watching the New York Yankees pound small market teams and win the World Series 9 times out of 10.
The point of a professional sports game is to entertain, and there is nothing entertaining about watching your team win 10-3 every night, season after season.
The point of politics is not to entertain, but to govern. Ideallly two sets of ideas compete, the best ideas win, those ideas govern, and if they work well it creates an advantage in the next election. In the mean time, the losing side is forced to evolve its ideas, improv3 upon them and do better in the next election. its this process of co-evolution that gave us the cheetah - the fastest land predator - and the pronghorn - the fastest land prey.
illinois didnt become a deep blue state by accident, it became a deep blue state because Democrats evolved forward in the 90’s and beyond to reflect the public’s views on the role of government and while the GOP has regressed over the last 20 years to capture an increasingly smaller and smaller share of the electorate.
I mean, the GOP cant even support marriage equality even though it is the law of the land, nor embrace cannabis legaalization despite its popularity in the business community and the large share of GOP voters who are fine with cannabis.
As for the map in general: Democrats did voters in 5hat area a favor most would say by drawing a saf3 Democratic S3at and a safe GOP seat instread of two competitive districts. Competitive general el3ctions mean millions spent on campaign ads and phone calls and mail 5hat voters tell us over and over they hate. It also means candidates spending much more time campaigning than governing. And it means fundraising dependent largely on big donors from outside of the district, which voters also tell us they hate.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 5:30 pm
== Between Rauner and Trump, the “GOP” is mathematically likely at it’s lowest state existence, including statewide, in a least a generation?==.
Maybe ever? Or at least since 1932 (Roosevelt landlside) and 1974 (Watergate backlash). The GQP is around those low seat totals now.
George Ryan tried to warn them. “Thats why youre in the minority!!” 2001 state of the state speech (iirc) when he was booed announcing support for LGBTQ rights.
Comment by low level Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 6:36 pm
Mike will be a great addition to the higher chamber. His current seat, which has become even more Democratic and diverse, should make for an interesting primary.
Comment by DrurysMissingClock Wednesday, Sep 8, 21 @ 7:59 pm