[Bumped up to Wednesday for visibility.]

* More to come in a bit. Official explanation is an illness.

…Adding… Press release..

The following statement has been released by Doug House, President of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association:

“Everyone who knows Vice President Biden knows that he gives our party and our country his all, but unfortunately he is sick and is under doctor’s orders not to travel.

The cancellation is of course disappointing, but it is clear that the circumstances are simply unavoidable. We all hope he gets well soon and I’m sure he’ll be back campaigning for Democrats in Illinois and across the country in no time.

While Biden’s trip to Springfield is cancelled, our event will continue. We remain excited for what will be the largest brunch in our history and look forward to hearing from our incredible slate of Democratic leaders who are ready to energize our party and lead us to victory up and down the ticket this November.”

*** UPDATE *** Press release…

Mayor dubbed by Obama as ‘Future of Democratic Party’ will headline IDCCA brunch in light of Biden cancelation

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Thousands of excited Democrats attending the IDCCA’s largest-ever annual brunch on Thursday will meet rising star South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (boot-edge-edge) who replaces Vice President Joe Biden after an unavoidable, late cancelation due to illness.

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a shining example of what can happen when Democrats take their message to every community,” said Doug House, president of the IDCCA. “That’s IDCCA’s primary mission – to fight and win in places where we’ve been told we can’t succeed. Mayor Pete’s dynamic message is one Illinois needs to hear as we work to turn races up and down the ticket from red to blue.”

“South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a rising star in the Democratic Party who jumped at the chance of filling in for Joe Biden,” U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said. “We welcome our Hoosier Democratic friend to Springfield.”

About Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg - a Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Navy Reserve Lieutenant – was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 at only 29 years old, and in 2015 he won re-election with 80 percent of the vote. Known fondly as ‘Mayor Pete,’ in Buttigieg’s seven years as mayor, South Bend went from being called one of America’s 10 dying communities by Newsweek to experiencing a period of rapid population and investment growth.

As Mayor, Buttigieg took an unpaid seven-month leave for a deployment to Afghanistan. For his counterterrorism work, he earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal.

President Barack Obama named him one of four Democrats who represented the future of the Democratic Party. He’s received national hype in The Washington Post, which called him “the most interesting Mayor you’ve never heard of,” and in The New York Times, which ran a column saying that he could be the nation’s “first gay President.”

In 2017, Buttigieg ran for Democratic National Committee chair, earning national praise for his clear message and emphasis on rebuilding the Democratic Party from the ground up in every community. House said that message will play well Thursday.

Mayor Pete studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford and holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Literature from Harvard. The son of educators, he was born in South Bend and grew up in the Northwest Side and North Shore Triangle. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in South Bend.

An active musician, Mayor Pete plays piano and guitar, and has performed with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. He lives with his husband Chasten in the same South Bend neighborhood where he grew up and is restoring a once-vacant home there.

He currently serves on the advisory board of the United States Conference of Mayors, and is chair of the Mayors’ Task Force on Automation, which addresses the impact of automation on American communities.