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* Politico…
[Democratic state central committee races where Gov’s Pritzker’s] candidates won or are winning: 5th District candidates Margaret Croke and John Cullerton, 6th District candidate Patrick Hynes, and 17th District’s Maurice West.
Races where Pritzker’s trailing or lost: Hal Sloan is losing to Tom Maillard in the 10th District; Natalie Manley is losing to Christine Benson in the 14th; Liz Brown-Reeves conceded to Katherine Daniels in the 15th; and Jehan Gordon Booth is trailing Pamela Davidson in the 17th.
There’s a virtual dead heat in the 10th District, where Lauren Beth Gash, a former state rep, was challenged by outgoing state Sen. Melinda Bush, who Pritzker endorsed.
Once the roster is set, the newly elected committee members will meet later this summer to conduct officer elections — which will determine whether Congresswoman Robin Kelly remains at the helm.
* Current numbers from Sen. Bush…
Sen. Bush says that as of this morning she is up by 384 votes (24,663 to 24,161), but the mail is still coming in. If the percentages hold, she says, she should win by 700 or so votes (The Cook numbers have been updated since then to 5,877 for LBG and 2,625 for Bush, which is pretty much the same percentage).
And from what I can gather, Benson is leading Rep. Manley by a bit less than 1,000 votes.
Also, Rep. West may not be a sure-fire vote against Chair Kelly.
* But here’s something to remember: The vote for party chair is a weighted vote. It’s not about who has more physical members on the state central committee. So, it’s complicated. First you gotta figure out who won by how much in all the counties in the congressional district, then you gotta figure out the weighting. It’ll take a bit of time. The fact that the governor’s campaign isn’t being Johnny on the spot about the results, however, may tell you something.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked today if he was going to oust US Rep. Robin Kelly as state party chair and if he believes she’s done a good job. His response…
Haven’t thought about that. All I want is to make sure that the Democratic Party is organized in a way that we can raise money for state candidates and federal candidates. As you know, there’s challenges with that having a federal office holder as the Chair. I support Congresswoman Robin Kelly, she’s terrific in her role as Congressperson and as somebody who’s lifting up Democrats across the state. So this is really just a matter of how we organize, to make sure we can raise the kind of dollars and organize our party to elect Democrats across the state. She’s great. There are just legal challenges. I think you know about that. The FEC has raised some of those, and they’re very difficult to overcome. And I think you’ve seen it in the challenges that the party’s had in fundraising. Having said that, you know, she’s a terrific leader, I think, you know, some of the people that are standing behind me work with her on a regular basis, as do I. So I intend to continue working with her, but you know, how we organize the party, that’s something that we’ll talk about in the next few weeks.
…Adding… Press release…
Today Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Congressman Danny K. Davis and Congressman Bobby Rush endorsed Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot in her re-election bid for Chicago Mayor. […]
“I am honored to have Congressman Davis, Congresswoman Kelly, and Congressman Rush stand beside me today to announce their support for my re-election campaign,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “They are each leaders who exhibit integrity and compassion. Over the last three years, we have worked hand in hand to deliver real results to Chicago communities that have been left behind for far too long. We share a deep commitment to improving the lives of working people, and I am excited to see what we can continue to accomplish working together.”
“I endorsed Mayor Lightfoot back in February 2019 when her candidacy was a longshot because I knew that she was the one who could guide Chicago through its most challenging moments,” said Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-02). “Three years later, I am proudly still by her side. A significant portion of the 2nd Congressional District is in Chicago and her partnership, as well as leadership, has been invaluable as we continue our work to transform the South Side. Whether its unprecedented funding for community-based violence prevention or investments in high-quality affordable housing in South Chicago through INVEST South/West, this administration is delivering results for our communities. I am proud to call the mayor a close friend and support her campaign for another term in office.”
I assume the favor will be returned. Stay tuned.
…Adding… Rep. Will Davis is a Robin Kelly supporter, so this is no surprise…
“I want to thank 2nd Congressional District voters for electing me to succeed my friend, Al Riley, as Democratic State Central Committeeman. I look forward to representing a diverse group of Democrats from Chicago and the south suburbs to Danville on the Central Committee.
The Democratic Party of Illinois needs strong, ethical, transparent, inclusive and effective leadership, which is why I pledge to vote for Congresswoman Robin Kelly to continue as chair of our party later this summer. She is the first African American and the first woman to serve in that capacity. She has rebuilt the party, engaged the grassroots and expanded its donor base.
I do not need to wait to see who else will run for DPI chair. Since she became chair last year, Robin has distinguished herself as the best person to lead our party to victory in November and through 2026. It is often said that Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party; Robin is the embodiment of that. She deserves our support. “
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 10:46 am
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JB and his team could blow this like they did last time..
Comment by NotRich Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 10:54 am
Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor.
Comment by Donni Elgin Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:01 am
Liz Brown-Reeves conceded to Katherine Daniels, but are there final numbers regarding the separation between the two candidates? Just curious if it was as tight as these other races. Generally with large gaps in the numbers there would be an outright “lost” or “defeated” used to describe the results.
Comment by Curiouser Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:02 am
So all of that money, all that conflict, and he may not have gotten what he wanted. He certainly didn’t “settle all family business” or whatever. His plan here was not especially effective, and I hope he thinks about how to approach these issues differently.
It’s possible more of the committee might vote his way this time, because now there are carrots and sticks on the table. People know how important this is to him, to a degree that wasn’t clear last time. Some members really are party leaders whose infrastructure would benefit from the money just spent to beat them. If those folks knew their options were “max donations to you, or max donations against you” they likely would’ve voted for Harris last time. But Pritzker played his cards close to the chest on that, lost, and then lashed out. More honest communication from JB could’ve prevented this whole scene. He’s got to get out of the habit of only saying what he’s mad about through donations. I think everyone would prefer honest threats over surprises.
Comment by vern Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:08 am
Someone needs to ask the question what the state democratic party did (if anything) to drive turnout. Everyone knew that turnout was going to be low. What did the state party do to help increase turnout? Was there a plan? What did the state party do to drive democratic voters to the polls?
Comment by Predecessorage Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:14 am
=== JB and his team could blow this like they did last time.===
Or not.
Comment by PublicServant Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:25 am
All this “conflict” talk with respect to the central committee is overblown. State Central Committee is like an invisible race. No doubt JB wants control of DPI since most expect him to fund it (especially with DPI constrained in fundraising with Kelly as chair). But outside of insiders, no one really cares.
The one area where it probably made a big difference in meaningful results was up in Lake County, where JB used max contributions to the Melinda Bush slate (central committee, legislative and Supreme Court candidates) to help send a message to the Sam Yingling slate. We all know how that turned out.
Comment by SpiDem Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:26 am
Interesting to see that having the support of JB and Manar was not enough to carry Liz Brown across the finish line.
Comment by Tood Aloo Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:34 am
DPI did nothing that I saw to help increase turnout in races across the state despite all of the warnings. Blasting emails isn’t a strategy to drive turnout. It’s malfeasance given everything at stake. What’s going on with DPI is parallel to the growing concern of the lack of urgency in Democratic Party leadership in Washington to meet this moment. Some people have just been around too long. And it’s time to pass the torch.
Comment by Opening Date Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:39 am
“Haven’t thought about that.”
That’s a lie, as the rest of the statement makes clear.
“As you know, there’s challenges with that having a federal office holder as the Chair. … There are just legal challenges. I think you know about that. The FEC has raised some of those, and they’re very difficult to overcome.”
That wasn’t a problem when JB for Governor transferred $500K to DPI on June 2nd, or again on June 14th, or again on June 21.
Comment by The Captain Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 11:48 am
I’m embarrassed to ask, but could anyone provide a link to state central committee results? i’m not finding them
Comment by Soccermom Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 12:13 pm
oooh, Soccermom, if there is such a link it will be a great find. spent too much time looking at various county and city of chicago websites, although that did lead me to look at judges and be surprised at the result Fritchey did not get.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 12:17 pm
It’s been more than 24 hours since I tried to contact Benson, Underwood and a staffer with the IL Dems. Underwood sent two fundraising requests.
I’m glad this is a blue state but blowing us off is why the Trumpists look so good. He got shtuff done, not good stuff, but better than this elitist attitude of the party of privilege.
Comment by Abbey Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 12:30 pm
== and be surprised at the result Fritchey did not get.==
After quick scan of the Chicago BOE website, it looks like he only won 2 precincts in the entire district. Ouch.
Comment by SouthSide Markie Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 12:32 pm
Anyone sick of billionaire’s in politics yet?
Comment by Boone's is Back Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 12:40 pm
Gee, I don’t know. The billionaire governor is doing a hell of a job so I’m kind of glad he’s there.
Comment by New Day Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:00 pm
Soccermom- Right now I think you still have to look at county by county, or precinct by precinct until all the vote counts are assigned per winner for their “percentages” overall in their respective districts.
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:19 pm
==== Interesting to see that having the support of JB and Manar was not enough to carry Liz Brown across the finish line.====
Durbin is still pretty popular in the Sprinfield area. And that district stretched way east and south of there. Metro East is a bigger part of the district now. Not sure how much help Hoffman was to Liz but it may have come too late.
Comment by Been There Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:25 pm
So after all the elitist crying by OW, JB still didn’t get guaranteed outcomes with the DPI chair?! Guess not all those “elites” were afraid of the voters. The Gov should definitely clean out some of his political team prior to any Presidential bid.
1. Senate president
2. Fair tax, where he insisted on going in alone
3. Dpi chair
4. Sec of state
5. 50% on state central efforts and may lose dpi chair a second time.
Re-election should come easily for JB. Nonetheless, instead of having enormous genuine support from the other Democratic elected officials in IL moving forward, he’ll remain the rich friend they keep around for his wallet and he’ll have less support than he should’ve due to bad advice, or an ego.
Comment by Dem Unity Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:33 pm
JB Pritzker is the best Governor of Illinois I’ve seen in my long lifetime…History will recognize his strong defense of democracy against a “would be” tyrant.
If Pritzker runs for President…He has my vote.
Comment by Dotnonymous Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:40 pm
===So all of that money, all that conflict, and he may not have gotten what he wanted. He certainly didn’t “settle all family business” or whatever. His plan here was not especially effective, and I hope he thinks about how to approach these issues differently.===
The voters spoke.
I hope Pritzker acts as he sees fit.
He’s not a piggy bank for those who aren’t on his team.
Robin Kelly wins again… good luck with that.
Maybe Pritzker will send another video to the luncheon, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 1:40 pm
===elitist crying===
You were against an election, lol
You do realize your own “name” you chose is a trolling of yourself… you’re a caricature of everything you right.
As far as the comedy of your points, you make me laugh, I’ll give you that.
=== Re-election should come easily for JB. Nonetheless===
LOL
They ain’t as important as they think they are, these folks, elitists.
Pritzker don’t need them, you say so yourself.
If their feelings are hurt, or Pritzker freezes them out… that politics.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 2:03 pm
=== he’ll have less support than he should’ve due===
Winning is winning.
All those “losses” you listed, not one of them would been helped with DPI.
Not one.
If you say yes… where were they… pouting ‘cause Pritzker knows he doesn’t need them? You said yourself. “Nonetheless”, amirite?
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 2:05 pm
I think that this deserves more attention:
Unless somebody is doing some very serious number crunching (and we still don’t have all the numbers), we don’t yet know where this contest is going.
– MrJM
Comment by MisterJayEm Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 2:07 pm
===But Pritzker played his cards close to the chest on that, lost, and then lashed out. More honest communication from JB could’ve prevented this whole scene.===
This is a re-writing of things.
Folks knew the score. Durbin or Pritzker.
They chose sides.
Or… are they all that influenced on what money Pritzker was gonna give them?
===If those folks knew their options were “max donations to you, or max donations against you” they likely would’ve voted for Harris last time===
That doesn’t read like you may want it to read.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 2:18 pm
=== That doesn’t read like you may want it to read ===
It reads exactly how I meant it. The SSC isn’t a governmental body, it’s a political organization. There’s nothing wrong with Pritzker trying to affect its decisions through campaign donations. We know he agrees with that, because he just spent the last 2 months trying to affect its decisions through campaign donations. My point is that he could have used that money to make friends and unite the party behind him instead of using it to punish people who he imagines are his enemies.
As for “folks knew the score,” I think there’s a lot of public evidence that that’s not true, up to and including Durbin and Kelly. Durbin managed to squeeze out some $5,000 checks in the last few weeks, but there wasn’t much battening down the hatches after the party chair vote. Literally all I’m saying at this point is that Pritzker should make clear threats before he does something like this. That would give people a chance to say yes to him. It would also fit the mob boss aesthetic you seem to be mapping onto him, though I think most people in the party would just see it as a step towards predictable and sound leadership.
Comment by vern Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 2:57 pm
===It reads exactly how I meant it.===
If it does, then why all the beefing at all?
lol
Pritzker could treat these folks like some lil club, do a lil Cameo video for them come State Fair time…
“Hi. Governor Pritzker here, hello to… DPI … congratulations on your breakfast-luncheon thing, hope it goes real well, I’m sure you won’t be backing Bailey so… have a great day”
lol
=== As for “folks knew the score,” I think there’s a lot of public evidence that that’s not true, up to and including Durbin and Kelly.===
That can only be true if you are saying Durbin and Kelly were dishonest. Both were complete dishonest about how Kelly could do the job.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 3:06 pm
“congratulations on your breakfast-luncheon”
You know… for how much you pretend to know about DPI, you would think that you would at least know that the fair breakfast is put on by the County Chairs Association, not DPI.
Comment by SupperClub Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 3:24 pm
=== You know… ===
Comedy is about … trivializing Pritzker just not engaging.
I recall my understanding it quite well in Rich’s post about that last year.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 3:31 pm
Didn’t Pritzker & Durbin both endorse Valencia over Alexi for SOS? How does that impact things?
Comment by Jockey Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 3:51 pm
==Didn’t Pritzker & Durbin both endorse Valencia over Alexi for SOS? How does that impact things? ==
The conflict isn’t exactly between Pritzker and Durbin.
And it’s not even exactly a conflict.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 4:27 pm
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 3:31 pm:
And now I suppose dedication and being a Democratic Party volunteer can and should be up for purchase? How is what Pritzker just completed any different from what Griffin and the Uihlein do? Most of these people voted off the SCC were not interested in, didn’t need any of Pritzker’s money, because in an all things being fair situation they have their own or were capable of raising their own and raising money for the Party and candidates.
Maybe some were aware they were in some silly proxy war between Pritzker and Durbin, but some really had no clue. Durban actually used his operation to try to keep some of them off the SCC.
You surely do post a lot about people you don’t know anything about and have no clue about, and it seems no interest in learning about all the positive impacts they have had on many lives and in the communities where they live and have actually grown the Party’s reach.
I personally don’t fault Mr. Pritzker, he is only acting out how he was raised and out of his own unresolved brokenness. To those like Mr. Pritzker, everything has a price, possibly even friendship, loyalty, dedication, belief in him. He now comes across as a bully when he was thought of as a thoughtful and measured, mature leader.
To those who are choosing to remain silent out of fear or out of disinterest in the face of this when you perhaps should be speaking, never forget Trump has shown this nation that rot grows and consumes. What happens when it’s your turn?
Comment by Patricia Watson Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 4:41 pm
Sorry, I went out for a run.
Ok… (sigh)
- Patricia Watson -
Lemme start, right here.
Michael Madigan “couldn’t” be removed from the state central committee… why…
Voters elected him.
Here’s the “thing”.
If you’re against the idea that voters get to choose and in intra-party politics there can be two sides, and elections… then what exactly is the purpose of having the committee except fir some elitist thinking and entitled people thinking they’re important.
You whine about the loses, some people won. That’s how things work….
===I personally don’t fault Mr. Pritzker, he is only acting out how he was raised and out of his own unresolved brokenness. To those like Mr. Pritzker, everything has a price, possibly even friendship, loyalty, dedication, belief in him.===
This sounds bitter and sad, because in the end, voters decided
… and… and this is embarrassing…
===Maybe some were aware they were in some silly proxy war between Pritzker and Durbin, but some really had no clue.===
I mean, I laughed out loud.
If you were that clueless in real time what was going on, you don’t deserve to be on the committee, they’d be the only folks that follow politics that did t know.
If they did know and now are confused what it means to pick sides, then maybe they might not grasp important fundamentals of coalition building and the consequences of choices.
===Most of these people voted off the SCC were not interested in, didn’t need any of Pritzker’s money, because in an all things being fair situation they have their own or were capable of raising their own and raising money for the Party and candidates.===
So?
Win your race. Some did, others, if they lost, that’s on them, as they should be able to muster up some support, they are allegedly party leaders.
Abd let’s not try the phony that no one expects anything, you get on this committee for perks too; National convention perks, political perks, altruism in a political party position is rarer than rare.
===You surely do post a lot about people you don’t know anything about and have no clue about, and it seems no interest in learning about all the positive impacts they have had on many lives and in the communities where they live and have actually grown the Party’s reach.===
I can see how their community feels, the outreach within the community and the impact, it can be measured in votes. Easily seen, seen yesterday.
No one is entitled to an elected party position that voters can decide on for themselves.
If that’s the one lesson learned…
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 5:41 pm
Mrs. Watson you’re a class act and Democrats were lucky to have had Patrick in leadership. His excessive volunteering had a critical, direct hand in the defeat of Peter Roskam and that is a legacy for which true Democratic supporters should forever thank Patrick and which we should envy. Some people on this thread will offer cheap assumptions of politics because they wouldn’t know how to identify a selfless elected official when they meet them. They won’t bother to learn of the volunteering that people put in to help elect democrats at the expense of time away from their families or opportunities for personal gain. Patrick has earned a long career ahead, because old politicians will come and go, and Patrick will still be younger and more accomplished than many of them. Thank you and your family for all you have done and will continue to do.
Comment by Dem Unity Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 7:33 pm
===Some people on this thread will offer cheap assumptions of politics because they wouldn’t know how to identify a selfless elected official when they meet them. They won’t bother to learn of the volunteering that people put in to help elect democrats at the expense of time away from their families or opportunities for personal gain.===
The *voters* must’ve missed that too?
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 7:44 pm
If Robyn has the 3 AA districts the race is over. The weighted vote in those 3 districts have always carried the winner .
What a dumb play. Whoever thought this one up should be fired to demonstrate party unity. BTW/ Anybody that thought you could beat Bill Houlihan’s candidates in a democratic contest in central Illinois must be living on Mars.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Jun 30, 22 @ 9:26 pm