State Sen. Willie Preston is talking to allies about jumping into the open 2nd Congressional District seat now held by U.S. Rep Robin Kelly, who’s running for Senate. In an interview, Preston, a Chicago Democrat, said he wants to see his party work to “defeat MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump.” Preston is chair of the Illinois Senate Black Caucus and said his focus is on making sure safety-net hospitals are properly funded. “We don’t need to fight over progressive or moderate politics,” he said. “The Democratic party is a family and we need to find our voice.”
Preston (D-Chicago) announced on Facebook that he was forming an exploratory committee: “There’s too much at stake in this country—and far too many voices from the South Side of Chicago to the Southland, all the way to the southernmost parts of this district calling on me to bring the same fire to Washington that I’ve brought to Springfield. I hear you. And I agree.”
Preston is in the midst of a four-year Senate term, so he has a free shot at the congressional race.
* There is an oppo book on Preston, however. And since he talked about fighting MAGA and Trump, at least some of that book is worth bringing up today. Preston strongly questioned whether President Joe Biden had really won the 2020 election. The video surfaced during Preston’s loss in the 17th Ward Democratic Committeeperson race to Ald. David Moore…
Yeah, I think that—I think that we’re—we should be in a post-election mode in the country, but we’re not. And I think that the reason that we’re not is that the media has been very clearly—the mainstream media—have been very clearly in the tank for Joe Biden and Kamala Harrison [sic]. And so, right, what we see right now is essentially them getting the country used to the thought that Joe Biden has been elected, which they’ve been doing for two years now, at least, getting the country used to Joe Biden being- accepting the fact that he’s the president-elect, which it looks to me that it is very, very possible that he did not secure the Electoral College.
In IL-07: Attorney Richard Boykin has made it official. He filed paperwork to run for Congress in the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis. Boykin is a former chief of staff to Davis and later served as a Cook County commissioner. And before all that he was a Congressional Black Caucus fellow with then-Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
* Leon filed paperwork to join the Democratic primary for US Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s seat last week. Evanston Now local political reporter Matthew Eadie…
$610k puts him just behind both Daniel Biss and Kat Abughazaleh, who are both reporting around $640-650k in cash on hand as of July 1.
No one else has filed or announced Q2 fundraising yet
Sorry Preston, but you can’t have your cake (appeal to the crazies in the GOP primary base by parroting crazy talking points) and eat it, too (actually have a shot in the general election in your district).
What’s in Springfield’s water that makes some legislators think they can run the world after just one or two terms? Even Obama did eight years before heading to DC.
Preston has talent, but this move would get him dragged. And I like Hoan, but having Homero Tristan speak at his kickoff was a major misstep. Tristan donated $50,000 to Mayor Johnson while holding a city contract. That is not a good look.
These are rookie mistakes. Republicans are watching. This is not T ball. This is the World Series.
Where is our party leadership? Why do we have a dozen people running for every seat? The Governor has done his part backing candidates statewide. Maybe it’s time to ask what the Chair is doing. Meanwhile, Republicans are out organizing us with candidate pipelines, outreach in Black and Latino communities, and Spanish media presence years before elections.
Our response? “I have been a rep for two years. I can do it all.” That’s not strategy, that’s ego.
We are about to lose good legislators to ambition and bad math. Look around and ask: What is the probability of winning? Why give up a promising role for a likely loss?
We have to get serious. Or we are going to keep losing ground we cannot afford to lose. It was not that long ago Illinois had a Republican Governor.
===Why do we have a dozen people running for every seat?===
First, stop the hyperbole.
Second, this is still a free country. People can run for office if they qualify for the ballot. If the party stepped in to drastically weed the fields down, lots of folks would rightly go bananas.
===We are about to lose good legislators to ambition and bad math===
Everyone is replaceable in the General Assembly. Everyone.
===Even Obama did eight years before heading to DC===
You apparently forgot about his Bobby Rush challenge.
Seriously, take a breath already. More candidates, more choices is not inherently a bad thing. And if legislators would rather move up, I’d rather they leave as soon as possible.
=== I’d rather they leave as soon as possible. ===
First, three safe seats opening up at the same time in Chicago is, I believe, unprecedented.
Secondly: Jackson, Foster, Casten, Miller, Underwood, Budzinski, Sorenson and Krishnamoorthi combined for Zero Days of elected experience before being elected to Congress, I think. Tne idea that someone has to have eight years in the legislature before running for Congress is how you end up with octogenerians in the US Senate and White House. Its antiquated, and no longer operational intel.
Third: if you see an unusual number of people leaving the House, or way more people leaving the House than the Senate, its probably because being a State Rep is not as much fun as you might think.
=What’s in Springfield’s water that makes some legislators think they can run the world after just one or two terms?=
You do realize there are countless examples of members of the House, Senate, and the current President getting elected with no prior public service. Ultimately it’s the voters, not your individual sensibilities, that determine who gets elected. And having party leaders decide who should run for a given office hasn’t exactly worked well for the Democratic Party lately.
==Our response? “I have been a rep for two years. I can do it all.” That’s not strategy, that’s ego.==
I wasn’t aware there was some sort of rule that you had to serve a certain amount of time in a certain office before you could run for another office. Who died and made you the arbiter of who can and cannot run for an office?
- TJ - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 12:42 pm:
Sorry Preston, but you can’t have your cake (appeal to the crazies in the GOP primary base by parroting crazy talking points) and eat it, too (actually have a shot in the general election in your district).
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
===actually have a shot in the general election===
He’s running in the Democratic primary.
- TJ - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 12:47 pm:
== He’s running in the Democratic primary. ==
Ooops, I’m dumb, my bad.
Point retracted, just assumed any election conspiracy nonsense had to have meant he was running as a Republican.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
Preston seems unstable. He also got in a stupid fight over nothing with CPS staff. Not my district, but there are a lot better options for the voters.
- Alexis - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 1:39 pm:
What’s in Springfield’s water that makes some legislators think they can run the world after just one or two terms? Even Obama did eight years before heading to DC.
Preston has talent, but this move would get him dragged. And I like Hoan, but having Homero Tristan speak at his kickoff was a major misstep. Tristan donated $50,000 to Mayor Johnson while holding a city contract. That is not a good look.
Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/01/24/brandon-johnson-campaign-contribution-chicago-latino-public-affairs-committee-illinois-elections-board
These are rookie mistakes. Republicans are watching. This is not T ball. This is the World Series.
Where is our party leadership? Why do we have a dozen people running for every seat? The Governor has done his part backing candidates statewide. Maybe it’s time to ask what the Chair is doing. Meanwhile, Republicans are out organizing us with candidate pipelines, outreach in Black and Latino communities, and Spanish media presence years before elections.
Our response? “I have been a rep for two years. I can do it all.” That’s not strategy, that’s ego.
We are about to lose good legislators to ambition and bad math. Look around and ask: What is the probability of winning? Why give up a promising role for a likely loss?
We have to get serious. Or we are going to keep losing ground we cannot afford to lose. It was not that long ago Illinois had a Republican Governor.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 1:45 pm:
===Why do we have a dozen people running for every seat?===
First, stop the hyperbole.
Second, this is still a free country. People can run for office if they qualify for the ballot. If the party stepped in to drastically weed the fields down, lots of folks would rightly go bananas.
===We are about to lose good legislators to ambition and bad math===
Everyone is replaceable in the General Assembly. Everyone.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 1:48 pm:
===Even Obama did eight years before heading to DC===
You apparently forgot about his Bobby Rush challenge.
Seriously, take a breath already. More candidates, more choices is not inherently a bad thing. And if legislators would rather move up, I’d rather they leave as soon as possible.
- Alexis - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 2:19 pm:
So we can write in just as long as we don’t disagree with you and don’t critique Lisa Hernandez. Got it. Have a better day.
- Juvenal - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 2:38 pm:
=== I’d rather they leave as soon as possible. ===
First, three safe seats opening up at the same time in Chicago is, I believe, unprecedented.
Secondly: Jackson, Foster, Casten, Miller, Underwood, Budzinski, Sorenson and Krishnamoorthi combined for Zero Days of elected experience before being elected to Congress, I think. Tne idea that someone has to have eight years in the legislature before running for Congress is how you end up with octogenerians in the US Senate and White House. Its antiquated, and no longer operational intel.
Third: if you see an unusual number of people leaving the House, or way more people leaving the House than the Senate, its probably because being a State Rep is not as much fun as you might think.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 2:39 pm:
===being a State Rep is not as much fun as you might think===
If you’re in it for the fun, you’re in it for the absolute wrong reasons.
- Pundent - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 3:04 pm:
=What’s in Springfield’s water that makes some legislators think they can run the world after just one or two terms?=
You do realize there are countless examples of members of the House, Senate, and the current President getting elected with no prior public service. Ultimately it’s the voters, not your individual sensibilities, that determine who gets elected. And having party leaders decide who should run for a given office hasn’t exactly worked well for the Democratic Party lately.
- Demoralized - Friday, Jul 11, 25 @ 3:27 pm:
==Our response? “I have been a rep for two years. I can do it all.” That’s not strategy, that’s ego.==
I wasn’t aware there was some sort of rule that you had to serve a certain amount of time in a certain office before you could run for another office. Who died and made you the arbiter of who can and cannot run for an office?