Illinois Dems say state should be blueprint in national fight against
Trump
[August 14, 2025]
By Ben Szalinski
SPRINGFIELD – Democrats across the country are searching for a winning
message in the 2026 elections, but Illinois Democrats say they’re
already found one.
With a video montage showcasing the state’s Democratic elected officials
as Star Wars heroes fighting President Donald Trump – portrayed as Darth
Vader – party leaders unofficially kicked off the 2026 campaign. That
was part of an annual Democratic County Chairs’ Association breakfast in
Springfield attended by more than 2,000 people before Gov. JB Pritzker
held the governor’s traditional campaign rally at the Illinois State
Fair.
“Illinois Democrats shook off the rust of old, poll-tested ideas and you
governed instead with a renewed dedications to the needs and the wants
of working families,” Pritzker told the room full of county-level
Democrats.
The governor brought the stump speech he’s used on the national campaign
trail and told the gathering of Illinois Democrats to stop analyzing why
Republicans and Trump were victorious in 2024. Pritzker argued Illinois
Democrats have already successfully implemented a message that resonates
with voters.
“Ours is a story that doesn’t have a cult telling us what to believe,”
Pritzker said.
While Illinois Democrats have been undefeated in statewide elections
since 2018 when Pritzker and a slate of Democrats coasted to power amid
Trump’s unpopularity in that year’s midterm election, the party has
struggled at the national level. A Wall Street Journal poll in July
found only 33% of voters across the country have a favorable view of the
Democratic Party – the lowest in 35 years.
Pritzker, who has traveled the country and logged numerous appearances
on national TV shows this year imploring his party to talk more about
economic issues, isn’t concerned about failing to resonate with voters
in Illinois.
“We’re not struggling to come up with a unified message, folks.
Democrats are for working families,” he told reporters.
Pritzker is seeking a rare third term as he mulls running for president
in 2028. Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Lisa Hernandez said the
governor has created the right road map for her party in 2026.
“He’s been certainly a person that has moved this state in the direction
where people do feel that there’s somebody speaking on their behalf,”
Hernandez told Capitol News Illinois.
Senate race
While Pritzker seeks a third term, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is not running
for reelection, opening up his seat for the first time in 30 years. The
three most high-profile candidates vying to replace him appeared at the
State Fair Wednesday to explain why they deserve to replace the
second-highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate.
“I wouldn’t even begin to pretend like I could somehow replace him, but
I aspire to build on his legacy of great progress,” U.S. Rep. Raja
Krishnamoorthi told reporters.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly said she’s focused on being herself and hopes
voters will look at her record representing a district that stretches
from Chicago’s South Side to rural central Illinois.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton touted her current experience as a statewide
elected official.
“When I’m going around the state, what people are saying is they are
ready for new voices, new blood, new energy in Washington, D.C. – new
ideas – and that the status quo right now simply is not working,”
Stratton told reporters.
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Gov. JB Pritzker addresses the crowd and receives cheers from his
fellow party leaders at a Governor’s Day rally at the Illinois State
Fair on August 13, 2025. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry
Nowicki)
While the three candidates agree on many issues, Stratton has injected
contention into the race by pledging not to take money from corporate
political action committees.
“I want to make sure that I’m centering the voices of Illinois families
and not corporate special interests,” Stratton said.
Stratton raised $1 million in the first quarter of her campaign as of
the end of June, but the balance is dwarfed by the $22 million in
Krishnamoorthi’s campaign fund and $2 million in Kelly’s. Both Kelly and
Krishnamoorthi have received contributions from corporations.
“She’s also hoping for a super PAC to come to her rescue and so it’s
very rich for her to accuse others of somehow being beholden to other
interests,” Krishnamoorthi said of Stratton.
Stratton launched a federal political action committee of her own in
January, which raised just short of $400,000 in the first six months of
the year, according to federal records. Pritzker has endorsed his
lieutenant governor and has a political action committee that could
allow him to financially support Stratton’s campaign further.
Kelly is also working to compete with Krishnamoorthi’s fundraising
power.
“I would not have gotten into this race if I didn’t think I had the
resources I needed to win,” Kelly said. “I’m giving up a seat I probably
could’ve held a long time.”
Redistricting hopes
Pritzker has positioned himself at the center of a national fight over
mid-decade redistricting in Texas and has said all options are on the
table for Illinois to respond. Recently, however, he has downplayed the
likelihood of Illinois lawmakers further gerrymandering a congressional
map where 14 of 17 districts already favor Democrats.
Hernandez, who in her capacity as a state lawmaker led the 2021 remap
process for Illinois House Democrats, said the process she followed in
2021 was the “right way.”
Asked if she would support a national independent redistricting
commission like Pritzker has said he favors, Hernandez said “we can
continue talking about that, but for right now, I’m content how we
handled things.”
Kelly said she would normally be wary of political blowback for
Democrats if they tried to counter Texas Republicans, who hope to add
five more Republican-leaning congressional seats in their state.
“We have to fight fire with fire,” Kelly said. “We have to take the
House back. There are despicable things and we cannot continue that.”
Krishnamoorthi said he favors banning mid-decade redistricting.
“My vision is someday hopefully we’ll have fair maps across the board,
across all states, so that everybody will be in parity,” he said.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, told reporters there
hasn’t been any discussion about redrawing the lines in Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |
