At Illinois State Fair, Democrats celebrate state as a leader of the Trump resistance
Setting the theme for the day was the opening of the annual brunch of Democratic county chairs. The group featured a short AI-assisted video labeled, 'Star Wars Episode II, the Orange Menace Returns' that portrayed Trump as Darth Vader and dressed various members of his Cabinet in Sith officer costumes while Illinois' Democratic members of Congress wore the clothing of Jedi fighters.
'This event is not just a fundraiser. It's a launching pad, because the next election is not just another political contest,' Kane County Democratic Chair Mark Guethle, who heads the statewide group, told nearly 2,000 people at the downtown Bank of Springfield Center. 'It's a test of who we are as a nation. It's a test of whether we kick people off their health care so some wealthy corporations get a tax break.'
A reelection-seeking Gov. JB Pritzker, who also is a potential 2028 White House contender, said Democrats nationally who are still lamenting last year's presidential outcome should move forward and look to Illinois as an example.
'The pity party, the circular firing squad, the think-tank brainstorming sessions — they just need to be over. And what I'll say to those who are wondering what's next for the Democratic Party is this: She's alive and well and stronger than ever and right here living in the great state of Illinois,' Pritzker said.
'There is a dark hopelessness in our national politics right now,' he said. 'But make no mistake, we have lived it in Illinois when we had Republicans in charge. But I'm optimistic that the nation will have a chance to play out on the national stage the story of restoration that we are writing here in the Prairie State. Ours is a story that doesn't have a cult telling us what to believe, or sycophants telling us what to say or a king telling us what to do.'
Delivering a keynote address, Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic minority in the U.S. House, was interrupted by sporadic outbursts from pro-Palestinian activists. But Jeffries continued with his speech, mocking Trump's move earlier this week to federalize Washington, D.C., law enforcement and bring in the National Guard.
'Donald Trump is pretending as if he cares about public safety in Washington, D.C. I have a message for him and the American people: The biggest crime scene that hurts everyday Americans in Washington, D.C., right now is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,' he said, using the address of the White House. 'That's the crime scene that we need to clean up on behalf of you and the American people.'
Jeffries said the Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress are far from the conservative but pragmatic GOP members who served as leaders of the chamber only a decade ago.
He also noted how the current far-right Republican Party that is backing Trump is not the old GOP when it was led by former House Speakers John Boehner of Ohio and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
'They were deeply conservative men. Disagreed with them on a whole host of issues. But it's not the party of those individuals. They also cared about the institution. They cared about the American way of life. They cared about our democracy,' he said. 'It's (now) the party of (U.S. Reps.) Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan. And Mary Miller.'
Greene, Boebert, Jordan and Illinois' Miller are among the most far-right members of the U.S. House GOP delegation, as well as among Trump's most ardent allies.
The focus on Trump carried over to the politicking of the day, where the three major candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's seat sought to win backing in advance of the March primary.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is backed by Pritzker, pitched her U.S. Senate candidacy as an extension of the Democratic policy victories achieved under Pritzker's administration, saying, 'Illinois is the blueprint.'
'Listen, this is not politics as usual. This is a five-alarm fire. Our freedoms are on the line and the status quo just will not cut it,' she said. 'The future that we deserve requires us to lock arms and move forward as one in the direction that we choose, not the one Trump dictates.'
U.S. Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg said he was running for the U.S. Senate to 'preserve the American Dream from attack by a Trump administration bent on making sure that people are held down.'
'That legal immigration system that enabled my family to emigrate here is being dismantled every single day,' said the five-term congressman whose family moved from New Delhi, India, when he was 3 months old to be raised in Peoria. 'That public housing and food stamps (are) on the chopping block now, and the public schools in Peoria that enabled us the gateway to the American Dream are under assault.'
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson touted the district she's represented since 2013, which stretches from Chicago's South Side to downstate Danville.
Describing herself as 'no stranger to a fight,' Kelly said Democrats need leaders with experience.
'It is critical that we have leaders who build and keep strong relationships in the House and Senate,' said the six-term Kelly, who has sought to pitch herself as the most experienced candidate for Senate. 'People have said so many times, 'Robin's too nice, Robin's too nice.' I am nice. I'm a very nice person, but believe me, I am a fighter.'
As the day's festivities moved crosstown to the Illinois State Fairgrounds, candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to replace retiring state Comptroller Susana Mendoza moved throughout the crowd, gathering signatures for their nominating petitions. Contenders working the fairgoers were state Rep. Margaret Croke of Chicago, state Sen. Karina Villa of West Chicago and Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim.
Republicans hold their traditional day at the fairgrounds on Thursday as the out-of-power party sought to fill out a statewide ticket to challenge Democratic incumbents.
On Wednesday, former state Republican Chair Don Tracy of Springfield, who resigned from the job last year due to internal disputes that threatened his continued leadership, announced he would seek the party's U.S. Senate nomination.
At the time, Tracy was critical of party infighting, saying 'we have Republicans who would rather fight other Republicans than engage in the harder work of defeating incumbent Democrats by convincing swing voters to vote Republican.'
Tracy had faced criticism as an inadequate advocate for the state party in the media, often dodging reporters at GOP events and, when speaking to them, repeating national Republican talking points.
Tracy finished third out of six candidates in a losing bid for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor in 2010. Tracy's sister-in-law, state Sen. Jil Tracy of Quincy, acted as local counsel in the state of Texas lawsuit filed in Adams County that seeks to have Illinois law enforcement officials enforce civil warrants seeking the return of Texas House Democrats to Austin. The Democrats fled to avoid a Republican attempt to gain five seats by redrawing Texas congressional boundaries in the middle of the decade rather than relatively soon after the federal census. The civil warrants are not enforceable outside of Texas' borders.
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