APRIL
2019 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
By Kim Savage
The recent municipal elections consumed the focus for many
local Democrats for the past few months. Kudos to District 86 for finally
passing a much needed referendum. Congratulations are in order to the Democrats
who won seats on the Downers Grove Village Council, Darien City Council, school
boards, library boards, and fire districts. While these are non-partisan races,
make no mistake that the Republicans have used these opportunities to control
the field for the past many years.
In the age of Trump, there has been a great clamor from
Democrats to know who “their candidates” are. The problem is that some of the
candidates, who are Democrats, do not want to be identified with that label and
are not involved at all with party politics. We will develop a new solution for
this issue moving forward. We will also have to rethink how we discuss these
matters at our meetings, since we have had a Republican attend and cause some
disruption to our last two meetings. It is unfortunate that we can’t have an
open discussion of issues and strategies without concern for interlopers in the
room.
Now that the local elections are over, you may be thinking
it is time for a break. Maybe you can have a short breather, but it is now 2020
Game On! We can’t just talk about wanting a blue wave, or continuing a blue
wave, we must be active in making it happen. From recruiting qualified
candidates for county and state level offices to winnowing down the field of presidential
candidates, the work needs to start now. Over the next few months, we will be
preparing for the petition season when candidates will need to collect a
sufficient amount of signatures to get on the ballot for the 2020 Primary
Election.
Do you know someone who would be a great candidate? Do you
have an interest in running? Stay tuned for informational sessions about
running for office and how we will be successful in electing Democrats. In the
meantime, get ready to gear up. I am sure the local Republicans will be working
hard to reclaim seats that they lost in 2018.
