2024 Election Guide
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Chicago, IL — As DPI celebrates an election cycle where Illinois Democrats achieved strong down-ballot gains and defied national headwinds with strategic organizing through Organize Illinois 2024, here’s a look at key coverage of the Party’s work:
Daily Line: Illinois Dems continue focus on down-ballot races as early voting begins
September 26, 2024
At the Democratic Party of Illinois, the goal is also to ensure Democratic candidates further down the ballot find success amid noise generated by the presidential contest.
The party launched the Organize Illinois 2024 campaign at the end of July as the Democratic Party of Illinois’ (DPI) plan for winning races in Congress, the General Assembly and local government in November.
The party has their eyes set on expanding the record-sized super majority in the state legislature as well as protecting Democrat-held congressional seats in addition to putting more resources into campaigns for local offices.
The party also has a busy events schedule. More than 50 events have been held throughout the state and “weekends of action” will be held in the middle of October. The party is also hosting regional meetings on a weekly and biweekly basis to directly assist candidates.
The party is providing assistance to 115 down-ballot candidates, ranging from candidates for Congress to local government, with voter contact information, turnout data, and advertising.
September 27, 2024
And there will be recognition of the Illinois Democratic Party building its infrastructure. Earlier this year, for example, Democrats hired a constituency outreach director to work on building relationships with communities of color, including Latino voters in Chicago, according to the party. Democrats also continue to focus on mail voting, which has been a priority since Gov. JB Pritzker took office.
“The investments made to strengthen our party’s infrastructure in 2024 will ensure that Democrats are ready to deliver for Illinoisans across the state for years to come,” the governor said in a statement to Playbook.
Illinois Times: State Democratic party focuses on down-ballot races
October 7, 2024
The party has hired year-round staffers to help with this effort, “which means we’ve been able to attract some pretty serious and expert campaign folks,” the DPI official claimed. They’re supplying communications services to candidates, including pushing any opposition research to local news media outlets. They’ve also hired eight field organizers, have four regional directors and have “onboarded four campus fellows” in university towns, who are all recruiting and supervising precinct volunteers.
“We’ve actually been successful at mitigating a good deal of redundancy in each of these regions where you might have a House caucus candidate knocking the same door as a Senate caucus candidate on the same day. Or a targeted county board district calling through a phone list that a state Senate candidate is calling through that same day,” said the party official. “Rather than trying to sprinkle new volunteer shifts across 10 different events and support 10 different candidates, we’re able to group those folks together into coordinated walks and phone banks.”
Politico: Illinois Playbook: Illinois Dems plan a campaign blitz
October 17, 2024
And the Illinois Democratic Party is fanning out across this blue state to knock on doors, too. They’re feeling confident — for the most part — but are still campaigning like they’re underdogs.
Especially in the Rockford area, where Congressman Eric Sorenson is trying to hold on to his seat in a race against Republican Joe McGraw, a former judge. McGraw was just endorsed by the Chicago Tribune.
Illinois Democratic Party Chair Lisa Hernandez dismissed the eyebrow-raising about the endorsement, saying, “It doesn’t matter because we know where Illinois is going,” a reference to Democrats being able to hold the seat.
“‘The Republicans made a huge mistake when they took down Roe v Wade’ Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza told reporters. ‘Because all of a sudden, they woke up a sleeping giant, which actually – believe it or not – are Republican women or independent women who always assumed that, ‘even though we don’t talk about this out loud, boy are we thankful that we can make our own decisions about our own bodies.’ So now they can’t.’”
October 22, 2024
Mike Ollen, senior political adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker, is watching state House and Senate races and expects to see winning results given the Illinois Democratic Party is ‘running a complete coordinated campaign up and down the ballot.’
October 23, 2024
That’s the message Democrats are campaigning hardest among issues that resonate with Gen Z, along with climate change, inflation and the cost of living, according to Nick Roberson, youth outreach lead for the Democratic Party of Illinois.
“The issues aren’t all that different for Gen Z compared to older ones,” said Roberson, 30. But the ways to reach them are, he added. “It’s more about community building. Young people want to be part of something bigger than themselves.”
“On the heels of Trump nominating his first U.S. Supreme Court justice weeks into his first term in early 2017, Democrats in the General Assembly began pushing for abortion protections in the event that a conservative majority on the court might someday overturn Roe v. Wade.”
“By the time that happened five years later, Illinois Democrats had approved a series of laws shoring up reproductive rights just as surrounding states began banning or severely restricting abortion access.”
“Later this week, Pritzker will highlight Illinois’ position as a sanctuary for abortion seekers and providers in an event hosted by Think Big America, the progressive advocacy organization he founded last fall. The group, staffed by the governor’s political team, has so far been involved with abortion rights ballot measures in Ohio, Nevada, Arizona and Montana.”
The Bloomington Pantagraph: Illinois Democrats rally student voters at ISU
October 24, 2024
Patrick Cortesi, chairman of the McLean County Democratic Party, told attendees Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Dick Durbin had also rallied on Schroeder Plaza at ISU in the 2022 midterm elections. He said Pritzker won McLean County by about 750 votes in that election.
“‘We’ve been swamped at our headquarters,” Cortesi told The Pantagraph in an interview after the rally. “We’ve had hundreds of people sign up to volunteer and ask what they can do to help. And we’re making sure that that energy is working top to bottom, all the way through the ballot.’”
WMBD: Rally at ISU urges young people to vote in the upcoming election
October 24, 2024
NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) — A Democrat-led rally on the campus of Illinois State University on Thursday was meant to energize young people to express their right to vote with Election Day less than two weeks away.
A crowd gathered in front of the speakers, with attendees carrying signs and cheering after talking points were raised.
…Speakers also included Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents Illinois’ 17th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and State Rep. Sharon Chung, who represents the 91st district in Illinois.
WBEZ Chicago: Illinois Democrats already hold a supermajority of state House seats. They want more.
October 29, 2024
Lisa Hernandez, chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, said they have spent the past few months knocking on doors, hosting public town halls and running phone banking events in an attempt to get out in front of voters across the state.
“The momentum, the excitement, the kind of feedback I’m getting, I can’t help but tell you that it looks good in Illinois,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said Democrats are eyeing six Republican-held House seats across the state in the hopes of flipping them this November.
WQAD: Democratic Party of Illinois provides voter with protection hotline
October 30, 2024
The party received 1,624 calls so far this election year, with Hernandez saying she expects numbers to climb even more.
It’s been really good to hear that people are utilizing these resources,” Hernandez said. “We had like over 400 calls in one week and it’s been like over 1600 calls for this is a cycle of elections that we have encountered so far.”
Chicago Tribune: Kamala Harris wins Illinois but rest of the Democratic ‘Blue Wall’ still in limbo
November 6, 2024
A confident Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker praised the state Democratic Party and party activists for their work at home and in Wisconsin and Michigan to encourage turnout hours before the polls closed.
“Elections matter and we are making sure that we have the infrastructure here in Illinois to get that message out to voters — from the top of the ticket all the way down the ballot,” Pritzker said. “I hope every Illinoisan who knocked doors, made phone calls, got friends and family to vote and maybe even ran for office themselves is proud of the work they put into this election. Their dedication will make a difference in the future of Illinois and this country.”
DPI’s successes are a testament to the tireless efforts of candidates and the strategic impact of the Organize Illinois 2024 initiative. Through this effort, Democrats defended every seat in the General Assembly, returned our entire congressional delegation to Washington, and secured significant down-ballot gains—including flipping county boards and winning judicial races across the state.
By engaging nearly two million voters through door-knocking and phone calls, supporting over 115 targeted candidates, hosting close to 200 get-out-the-vote events, and responding to 2,200 voter protection calls, Illinois Democrats demonstrated the power of organizing and delivered for communities across the state.