‘Democrats deliver’ is party’s rallying cry at State Fair festivities
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[August 18, 2022]
By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – In one of the largest annual
gatherings of Illinois Democrats on Wednesday, the party had a message
for its faithful that attended a pair of Illinois State Fair week
events: “Democrats deliver.”
This year’s gathering of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs
Association had 19 speakers, including congressional and statewide
candidates and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly, while the
keynote speaker was Congressman Joe Neguse, D-Colorado.
“We’ve got a hell of a record, and we ought to run on it,” Neguse said
to the room full of Democrats on the floor of the Bank of Springfield
Center that once served as the Illinois House of Representatives during
the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think Sen. (Dick) Durbin, D-Illinois, would
agree with me when I say that this Congress is arguably the most
productive Congress since the Great Society in the 1960s.”
He cited a federal bipartisan infrastructure bill, gun reforms and the
bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to invest tens of billions of dollars
in U.S. companies to promote computer chip production.
“And I haven’t talked about the Inflation Reduction Act, which will
reduce prescription drug prices and, by the way, is the most significant
climate action ever taken by the United States Congress in the history
of our republic,” Neguse said.
On the state side, Gov. JB Pritzker touted his signature on a bill
increasing the minimum wage to $15 by 2025, a measure providing $1.8
billion in tax relief and the fact that the state has virtually
eliminated a bill backlog that rose to $16 billion during Gov. Bruce
Rauner’s administration.
He also mentioned state investments in the Illinois State Police to
reduce forensic science backlogs and increase the number of troopers on
state roads. The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and, the state’s
pandemic response, abortion protections and the Rebuild Illinois capital
infrastructure plan were also points of emphasis for the Democrats.
While “Democrats Deliver” adorned the signage handed out to attendees,
the speakers also sought to differentiate the party from a GOP they
described as the “lunatic fringe,” “crazy as hell” and a “cult of fear.”
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“And if you look at who's winning these primaries on the Republican
side, they are crazy as hell and they're seeing and doing crazy stuff.
...And my fear is that if these individuals get elected, we're going to
see January 6 on a weekly basis,” secretary of state candidate Alexi
Giannoulias said.
Former Gov. Rauner, an Evanston Republican, and former President Donald
Trump were mentioned as frequently as Pritzker’s 2022 challenger, state
Sen. Darren Bailey.
“I was never worried about the finances of this state even during the
darkest days of the pandemic,” Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. “When my
colleagues in other states would ask, 'How do you seem so calm?' I would
say, 'Well, it's easy – the worst virus to ever hit Illinois' finances
wasn't COVID, it was Bruce Rauner.’ And thank God we now have JB
Pritzker.”
Mendoza, who took office halfway through Rauner’s term as governor,
frequently sparred with the ex-governor. She looked back on that, saying
she would fight every day to “save our state,” and “metaphorically
speaking, kick him in the groin with much joy and pleasure.”
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The Democratic candidates for statewide office and
the state's legislative leaders pose for a photo on the stage at
Governor's Day at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday. (Capitol News
Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
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A short video presented at the brunch event showed a montage of clips
from Rauner’s four years in office before cutting to images of Bailey
with the text “he’s worse.”
Attorney General Kwame Raoul criticized Bailey and GOP AG candidate
Thomas DeVore, who he described as a “COVID ambulance chaser” for the
several lawsuits he has filed aiming to lift COVID-19 mitigations in the
state.
Raoul said the current political landscape means who people elect as
attorney general “matters more than any time in American history.”
“It matters to fight against audacious forces who threatened to diminish
our rights, attack our nation's Capitol, attack law enforcement and
attack our democracy,” Raoul said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/18/images/ads/current/werth_sda_FAIR_2022.png)
Pritzker reused a line from a speech he gave to Florida Democrats in
July, saying Republicans are “trying to distract us into believing that
marriage equality, Black history, Disneyworld and library books are more
of a threat to our children than the AR-15.”
“While the Republicans try to convince Americans that Q Anon lies are
real, our diverse Democratic Party is getting things done for Illinois
families,” he said.
The subject of abortion and health care rights was also a frequent
talking point for speakers, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.
“The Trump-endorsed MAGA extremist Darren Bailey will do everything in
his power to try to turn back the clock on our progress,” she said. “And
he has the unmitigated gall to think that the women of Illinois are
going to just sit back, sit down and stay silent.”
While the crowds at the gathering of Democrats often chanted in unison
in support of candidates, the absence of the party’s former chair from
the Wednesday events indicated there is some lingering resentment
regarding her recent unseating.
Congresswoman Robin Kelly, of Matteson, was ousted as party chair last
month by new chair Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, a state representative
from Cicero who had Pritzker’s backing. Kelly didn’t attend the brunch
or the Governor’s Day event at the State Fair that followed but issued a
statement saying she’d back Democrats up and down the ballot “whether or
not we are united.”
“The stakes are too high, this is the most important election of our
lifetime,” she said in a statement in response to Capitol News Illinois
questions.
Hernandez briefly took questions at the fair Wednesday and was asked how
she would mend fences within the Democratic Party.
“I think that we are moving forward,” she said. “We are – the party is
about trying to get Democrats elected in November. And that's really the
focus, that is what we are all on board with. And the mending the fences
… there is really just a real intent to try to get the Democrats through
November and I don't see a problem.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news
service covering state government that is distributed to more than 400
newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press
Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |