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Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards

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Illinois

* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Democratic State Senate Campaign Staffer goes to Natalie Benner…

It’s nice to see women in the Senate Dem campaign apparatus start playing a more sustained, significant role on the managerial front and even more wonderful when it is someone like Natalie. Just being in the Tom Cullerton office for a short while, you can tell that Natalie’s hard work yielded a strong operation. And she even camped out at DuPage County Election Authority when her race was in the bag. Watch out for Natalie. She’s going places.

She received several strong nominations. Runner-up goes to Ben Donovan…

Ben is a hard worker, fast learner, and super nice guy. He will out work the competition and he treats everyone on the campaign with respect. Ben was a major part of turning a district that went for Nybo by 20% in ‘14 to winning the rematch by 1.6%.

* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Republican State Senate Campaign Staffer goes to Rachel Bold…

Rachel Bold did an outstanding job getting Senator Anderson back to Springfield. Held off a strong opponent during an otherwise blue victory party. Strong TV and mail ads. I hope we will get to see her in the quad cities again.

That was a no-brainer. Runner-up goes to Jon Nelson…

One of the few bright spots for the Republican caucus was hanging on to Curran’s seat while the other “safe” suburban GOP seats went under.

Congrats to everyone.

* OK, let’s move on to today’s categories…

* Best campaign staffer - House Democrats

* Best campaign staffer - House Republicans

Please make sure to explain your nominations or they won’t count. I’d prefer nominations in both categories, but if you work exclusively with one party I will understand if you can’t.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:19 pm

Comments

HRO: Ryan Tozer. Norine once again faced a stiff and well financed opponent - and won pretty easily. Not to mention Tozer handles all of this with two young daughters at home.

Not knowledgable enough to know Dem staffer names but whoever ran Terra Costa Howard race should deserve praise.

Comment by TBT Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:38 pm
House Democrats: Chris Lowery- he cut his teeth on some tough downstate races and has developed a sharp sense for recruiting solid candidates for the districts. He managed almost a dozen races- and pulled off victories in all of them. He sticks to the plan and works the plan because he knows that is the path to success. Plus he is one of the nicest guys. He has earned his nickname coach for a reason.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:43 pm
It’s hard to nominate only one for the House Democrats because Craig Willert hired a great campaign staff this season. Nearly all of the top tiered races were managed by women.

My nomination goes to Tiffany Moy. She was responsible for nearly all of the top tier races. Tiffany is a no-nonsense powerhouse who will tell it like it is and do what is necessary to get the job done. She works more than she should, but does it all for the House Democrats. Tiffany is the campaign staffer others should be measured against and aspire to be.

Comment by Year Of Women Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:46 pm
House Democrats: Nathaniel Groh. Smart operative who kept his feet to the ground and got his boss re-elected in a tough race. Impressive for a young first timer to campaign management who always had a smile on his face and kept things professional. Good guy with good opportunities ahead of him.

House Republicans: Jake Walters. First election for this young kid but when he took over as manager for David Friess late in the cycle he put together a team and plan that made that district competitive for Costello. Came up short but this kid is good with a promising future.

Comment by Short Sighted Sam Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:51 pm
I don’t know much about the House GOP political staff so my nomination will be just for the House Dems.

Hands down, this has to go to Tiffany Moy, or who some of us refer to as the Queen of DuPage. I first met her helping on the Conroy campaign during the 14 cycle. She never seemed bothered or phased by anything and the place ran like a well-oiled machine. I swear she must be a machine because she doesn’t sleep and is always in a good mood. Fast forward to this cycle, and the House Dems wouldn’t have picked up Costa Howard, Villa, and Pappas without Tiffany. She made kept everyone focused, on task, nothing slipped through the cracks and come Election Day the Dems made some major pick-ups. And she does all of this with a smile on a her face and not a hint of stress (which we all know is almost impossible when out in the field). She is definitely going to do big things in this business and is someone we should all keep an eye on. My vote is for Tiffany “Queen of DuPage” Moy.

Comment by DuPage Resident Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:02 pm
House GOP: Patrick Simon for Avery Bourne. Dude is a workaholic and straight professional. Took a low budget incumbents race and ran up the margins.

House Dems: Aaron Ladzinski. He ran the opposition to Rep. Bourne for Dillion Clark and he proved to be game. An early ground game that was impressive just not enough to get over the hump.
While I am completely biased as this is my district, these two young staffers prove to me that no matter the political persuasion, the kids are alright.

Comment by TeaLeaves Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:27 pm
House Republican Office without a doubt Ryan Tozer!! 3-0 in Macomb!! Need I say more. #Tozer4Mayor

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:44 pm
HRO: Ryan Tozer.

Not only did he do an awesome job in Norine Hammond’s general, but he also did a great job on the primary too.

No way that his ground game was going to be outmatched in either race. Lots of Republicans that fended the right flank in March went down in November. Not Hammond, and that’s because of Ryan.

Sorry - dont know much about the other side.

Comment by Not Ryan Tozer Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:46 pm
House Dems, John Berry: While what John does is considered “support” for campaigns, its his utility that makes him vital to DPI. His work ranges from mail to commercials and everything he works on is solid.

Also it should be mentioned that it was not uncommon for him to be working a photo shoot in southern Illinois in the morning and end his day up in doing video in the collar counties. And who know what he was asked to do inbetween. It’s his dedication and can do approach makes him stand out as more than just “support.

House GOP , Ryan “Super Dad” Tozer. TBT comment on Ryan could not be said any better.

Comment by Tourniquet Man Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:47 pm
House GOP: Hands down has to go to Matt Eddy.
He worked on Terri Bryant and Dave Severin’s campaigns and is a total pro. From the ground game to communications he does it all. He was able to manage tricky districts and had both races win by double digits.

House Dems: Sorry not as much knowledge here

Comment by SouternIllinois Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:54 pm
HGOP: Tozer. All day every day it’s about the candidate and the campaign. He clearly has taken lessons learned by others and applied them with outstanding results. And, he is a manager who will still hard knock doors, walk in parades and hit the phones if that’s what it takes to win.

HDem: Aaron Ladzinski for stepping up with what some might say was a “flawed” candidate. We have all been there and he handled it well.

Comment by SangamoGOP Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:12 pm
Ryan Tozer for HRO. Hands down did a great job running the campaign and he is 3-0 in that district!!! Way to go to the Toze Dog !

Comment by Macombie Homie Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:19 pm
House GOP: Patrick Simon of Avery Bourne’s campaign. He’s a workhorse and pushed hard to knock doors and make calls. He never took Bourne’s incumbency for granted. Not only is he great at reaching out to voters, he is humble and professional in his work.

House Dems: Not enough knowledge to nominate someone.

Comment by BraidwoodBilly Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:30 pm
House GOP: Ryan Tozer
Has the knowledge to run campaigns, the dedication to jump in, and a great understanding family at home. He organizes the troops, helps with the message, and is t afraid to lead by example with door-to-door and phones.
No one is more deserving, not just this year, but prior and future years included.

Comment by RealGOP Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:36 pm
When we experienced a year in which just about any democratic candidate that ran in the suburbs won, I find it hard to nominate someone. There are plenty of hardworking HDEM operatives but the playing field was just so uneven to distinguish who was really knocking it out of the park.

For the HGOP staff, I look at it as who was able to plug the damn without sandbags. I think Ryan Tozer was able to accomplish that since Rauner lost 3 of the counties in HD 93 while at the same time defending a candidate that voted for a tax increase in a conservative district.

Comment by One of Three Puppets Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:41 pm
I would say Matt Eddy since he had a similar situation that Tozer dealt with. Eddy had HD 115 and HD 117 along with dealing with a crazy congressional race to compete with. Always has good humor and knows what the candidates need to hear at the right time.

Comment by Eddy for President Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:44 pm
Nathaniel Groh was great and deserves credit for running a good campaign. However, he was not a House Dem staffer. He was independently hired and directed by his candidate and their team.

Comment by walker Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:51 pm
HDem goes out to Aaron Ladzinski for keeping his candidate grounded, they hit some ruff spots and picked right back up. He worked tirelessly to get his candidate on the right path.

HGOP Ryan Tozer, played a great game and focused on the win. hard to do for a lot of campaign staffers.

Comment by Dem4ever Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:09 pm
HDEM Campaign Staffer: Aaron Ladzinski, he staffed a great campaign. He was always up to date on what needed to be done, kicked a lot of turf and ran a good campaign. He was well informed and an excellent job!

Comment by DemTheBlueWave Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:17 pm
HDem: Aaron Ladzinski for running a good campaign and had to run some tough areas. He was knowledgeable and skilled in running his lists and keeping his crew motivated. Hats off Aaron on a great job.

Comment by BlueWaveDem88 Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:23 pm
Don’t know about the HDems but for House Rs it’s gotta be their only pick-up, Nick Mott, CM for Patrick Windhorst. Won a 3 way primary with 54% of vote and clobbered a really good opponent in Phelps Finnie by 16 points. He’s new to the game and is born and bred in the 118th district. Married with a young daughter didn’t stop him from putting together the most professional campaign downstate, from social media to ground game to candidate management.

Comment by 118th Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:23 pm
TIFFANY MOY IS AMAZING.

Comment by Soccermom Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:24 pm
HouseDem: Tito Quinones goes high and far on Champaign. He will do anything to bring the win home. And this past Nov.6 he did just that. He produce high-quality work consistently.

Comment by demsknockknock Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:25 pm
Campaign

Comment by demsknockknock Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 3:27 pm
Sorry I typed in the wrong username
Aaron a life long Democrat, works to help Democratics secure the ticket across all lines of government. He is a true public servant and party person who works to promote the party’s core values and leadership.

Comment by Governor Washington Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 4:15 pm
Hands down Tiffany Moy! DuPage Has not been the same since Tiffany first came here in 2012. She was number two on my race and we picked we turned Lee Daniels seat Blue! The first all D seat in DuPage. Today you see yards filled with Democratic signs and we picked up 4 seats! She is a powerhouse and has earned the title Queen Of DuPage ir as we call it today BluePage.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 4:28 pm
For HGOP, dual noms for Matt Eddy and Ryan Tozer. They both dealt w strong-willed incumbents who voted for the budget & tax increase for the good of their districts and the state. And both Bryant & Hammond were in rematches against their 2016 Dem opponents. Not to mention those lovely Proft primaries.

Eddy and Tozer are top-notch, detail-oriented staffers who know what it takes to win tough races. They’ve paid their dues over the years working in the trenches and their experience & dedication has paid off. And both spent countless hours away from their young families to run winning campaigns.

They both deserve the nod. After all, if the Nicks could win it together back in the day, Eddy & Tozer should too.

Comment by Not Cletus Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 5:09 pm
HGOP: Tozer. It’s been six plus years since I’ve lived in the state or had anything to do with politics but I still got hit up by Ryan Tozer to knock doors for Norine Hammond. Dude, how about “how are the kids?”

Ryan, if you’re reading this I was just kidding about that election night text…kind of…JP Pritzker does pay better though. Think about it. I know his plumber made a killing with this one job.

Rich, hoping you give this guy a physical Golden Horseshoe. Or a picture with you and Ryan on the blog would be awesome.

Comment by bluecord Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 5:45 pm
Based on performance my Staffer, Deb Kraulidis, should win the GOP staffer award. Only one to win a competitive race in a district Rauner AND Harold lost. Outperformed Rauner by 3.75% while most targets in the suburbs were 3%-7% behind him. Withstood the massive late spend. She managed/developed a large team of volunteers. And she did on the smallest budget of any incumbent target. She’s unknown in Springfield and is unlikely to be nominated but she should be!

Comment by Mark Batinick Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 6:31 pm
Tiffany Moy for the already mentioned reasons, but also for her many efforts that can go unnoticed in the off-season. She’s one of the few who puts in the work for candidates and campaigns all year round. From recruitment, to petitions, to candidate management and everything in between - she does it all. It’s not glamorous stuff, but it’s that kind of work that helps campaigns build a strong foundation and she does it all without complaint.

Comment by overtime Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 6:34 pm
Downstate had some tough races this year, but I have to say the best of the best was Aaron Ladsinski on the Clark campaign vs the Bourne campaign. That team hit more doors than any other campaign I watched. It ended up being way to republican anyway, but I was vastly impressed with their hard work, especially in Christian County.

Comment by The artist formerly known as John Jacob Jingleheimer schmidt Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 6:50 pm
HDem. Aaron Ladsinski on the Clark team in the 95th worked tirelessly. He had a great ground game and we were very impreesed with his hard work. We will be looking to Aaron in the future for our other candidates both local and in the 95th

Comment by Dazedandconfused Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 7:34 pm
Aaron Ladzinski, did an excellent job taking an otherwise no name candidate at the time in extremely red District and made him a viable option to run for State office. He managed grueling hours and a very small staff mostly limited to just himself the candidate and the candidate’s wife. His commitment and skill cannot be overstated.

Comment by John Fogle Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 8:02 pm
Dem Staffer … Tiffany Moy is the best ! She listens, she has a sense of humor and she is super smart on the issues. She is also is willing to help, everyone !

Comment by Southside Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 8:16 pm
Ladzinski & Groh aren’t House Dem Staff

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 8:55 pm
HDem Staffer: The year of the woman. The House Democrats had some strong female campaign leads across the state this cycle. Hats off to all. I would nominate Tiffany Moy, she oversaw dozens of upstate/suburban races that helped the Democrats pick up so many seats. She handles stress better than anyone I have ever seen. She works hard.

Comment by Knock Doors Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 9:26 pm
House Dems – Tiffany Moy. There are very few on the House Democratic team that put in more work or more hours than Tiffany. She’s a trusted hand of the Speaker who never shows stress and handles her job with patience, kindness, and zero ego.

Tiffany manages to not only be one of most talented campaign staffers in Illinois, but she does it all with a smile. She’s tough, straightforward, and also one of most genuine people in the Capitol who is respected by staff on both sides of the aisle for her work. She is a mentor to younger staffers and never fails to be there for her colleagues on any issue, big or small, no matter how many other things she has going on.

She has been responsible for some big wins over the years, including several major ones this year (and primary that was basically a general) and juggles a million other responsibilities on both the state and political side without ever missing a beat.

Tiffany Moy is a class act, proven leader, and there is no one more deserving this year. All hail the Queen of DuPage.

Comment by 618Route14 Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 9:35 pm
Tiffany Moy is the Best. She is kind, a hard worker, has a sense of humor and knows the issues. She is always available and willing to listen and willing to help

Comment by Southside Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 9:43 pm
I want to Second the nomination for Ben Donovan. Not to take anything away from the achievements of the Cullerton team but Tom’s people had a massive amount of personnel and resources at their disposal, whereas the outcome of Glowiak campaign was ( and this is reflected in the final result) was anything but a sure thing. And in the district where Sean Casten and Terra Costa Howard dominated the dialogue, volunteers were excrutiatingly hard to cultivate. Ben understood the unique challenges of Suzy’s race from the very beginning and assembled an impeccable field team for the undertaking. They worked relentlessy to deliver Suzy’s win and Ben never ceased to keep them motivated and committed to the cause. He treated everyone involved with the organization with a level of respect and attention that is rare in this business and ultimately it was his focus and discipline that brought what was a long shot race to a victorious conclusion in what was a very contentious and challenging election cycle.

Comment by Browiak2018 Tuesday, Dec 11, 18 @ 1:47 am
Tiffany Moy is amazing! I’ve never heard one negative word said about her from anyone who has worked with her. She never gets rattled and is always poised and in control! When you combine that with the results last month it’s a no brainer! Forget DuPage she is the QUEEN OF ILLINOIS!!!!!

Comment by Alex Schaumburg Tuesday, Dec 11, 18 @ 4:35 am
HGOP - I’d also like to give a nod to Ryan Tozer for Norine Hammond’s race. General and primary. Tough district - labor heavy, voted for tax increase, McCann “RINO” mailers - he is great at organizing groups of precinct walkers, getting a nice showing at a parade, and still balances his family life. Good dude.
HDEM - Sorry, I don’t have any experience on that side.

Comment by GOPgal Tuesday, Dec 11, 18 @ 5:46 am
Tiffany Moy has this in the bag for the HDems and for good reason. She’s a force of nature. Also acknowledging a few actual HDems runnerups who aren’t Aaron Ladzinski: Iris Schwier (sp?) and Chris Lowery brought home one of the most difficult races with a first time candidate in a tough district for Democrats, as did the team in Jerry Costello’s district. Jon Maxon is just amazing. If a Democratic candidate said it there’s a good chance he had a hand in writing it. Many, many heroes for the HDems this year. Kudos!

Comment by GreaterInDecatur Tuesday, Dec 11, 18 @ 7:09 am