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The Sangamon County GOP could teach the legislature a thing or two

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Illinois

* President Trump won Sangamon County by 4 points last year, but Republicans hold 76 percent of the seats on the local county board…

Republicans outnumber Democrats 22-7 on the board.

I don’t pay much if any attention to the county board where I live, so I don’t know if the Democrats just run ridiculously horrible candidates and back them with amazingly lousy campaigns or if the map is truly that lopsided.

Either way, though… Wow.

In comparison, the Illinois Senate Democrats hold 70 percent of the seats in their chamber, but Biden beat Trump statewide by 17 points.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:14 am

Comments

= I don’t know if the Democrats just run ridiculously horrible candidates and back them with amazingly lousy campaigns =

Nailed it.

Comment by Dirty Red Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:24 am
When the County Board Chair draws a map so his next door neighbor can have his own district, it’s truly that lopsided. Andy VanMeter is the Mike Madigan of Sangamon County.

Comment by FIREDup! Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:24 am
Sangamon County GOP does a great job of recruiting candidates for the Sangamon County Board. They look for “names” that have lived in the applicable districts for years or for local sports names or well known business owners.

Couple that with decades of state employees backing GOP candidates and the growth of the “Springfield Burbs” of Rochester, Chatham. Sherman/Williamsville and Pleasant Plains that have high concentration of white professionals, you get GOP domination. There are a few pockets that swing in the City, like District 22 but that may change too.

For too long the Sangamon County Dems have not done a good job of recruiting to stock a farm team. And if you worked for the State or wanted to work for the State, running as Democrat in Sangamon County wasn’t a smart move.

Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:26 am
=== I don’t know if the Democrats just run ridiculously horrible candidates and back them with amazingly lousy campaigns===

This is the ongoing pattern to head scratching political outcomes.

Reset, Regroup, Recruit.

This is impressive at the local level

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:28 am
The Map. Springfield aldermanic ward boundaries are remapped under the threat of federal judicial review. Frank McNeil used that threat after the 1990 Census when then GOP County Board Chair / Ward 8 Alderman Irv Smith tried to remap the city wards the same way county board districts were remapped (they’re don’t have a history of judicial review, and the local media totally ignores them).

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:38 am
29 county commissioners? That seems excessive to me.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:40 am
“29 county commissioners? That seems excessive to me”

Well it is, but the last time someone proposed downsizing the Sangamon County Board, the Sangamon County GOP went nuts and fought it tooth and nail and killed it. You know, the Sangamon County GOP, the party of smaller government and doing more with less.

Sangamon County GOP loves them some big government, as long as that government means employing their people and their people holding office.

Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:45 am
Sounds like about 20 too many. What do these people even do? Local government from the county down makes no sense in Illinois anywhere. There is county, township, municapality, fire distrcts, park districts, school boards, and on and on. In Illinois we need to move toward unitary authorities as was done in England.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/unitary-local-government-an-explainer/

Comment by Publius Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:49 am
Sangamon Co. GOP also has always ran their own vote by mail program regardless of what top of the ticket candidates/operations are doing.

Comment by walking taco Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:51 am
Where Butler and his pithy quotes…hmmm

Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:55 am
==Sangamon County GOP loves them some big government==

Aint that the truth. They are on par with any liberal from Cook County when it comes to that.

Comment by low level Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:55 am
And 7 is a *huge* improvement for Sangamon County Dems, as they picked up 2 seats in 2020.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:57 am
yes Rich, the map is truly that lopsided. Chairman Van Meter literally split his cul de sac in half in order to get his next door neighbor onto the board. The map is a joke and now they’re proposing to pack Dems into 4 or 5 seats.

Comment by The Real Downstate Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:57 am
===Cook County===

Yet somehow we manage with 17 commissioners, representing 5 million people.

You low level types ought to try it sometime.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:58 am
==Where Butler and his pithy quotes==

Agree. Butler is dead silent on the gerrymandering in his own back yard. Not going to dramatically throw papers at this issue, are you Timmy?

Comment by The Real Downstate Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 9:59 am
Luckily it’s not like the head of the Sangamon County Democrats is also one of the 3 people in charge of DPI’s fundraising, recruitment, and campaigning at the state level. Oh. Wait…

Comment by uialum Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:00 am
==in charge of DPI’s fundraising, recruitment, and campaigning==

Yes, that will help them convince the GOP to draw a fair map that can elect Dems!

Comment by The Real Downstate Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:04 am
Publius -

See you and raise you. (Note - using Wikipedia, as the governmental documents are en francais.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%932006_municipal_reorganization_in_Quebec

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:14 am
=In Illinois we need to move toward unitary authorities as was done in England.=

Umm, don’t want to rock your governmental boat too much be we had this thing starting in the 1770’s called the American Revolution to overthrow the British form of government in the colonies. Pretty sure we don’t want that back.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:17 am
JS Mill -

Unitary government didn’t exist in 18th Century Great Britain. In fact, they had something the Sangamon County GOP would love to have …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_and_pocket_boroughs

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:20 am
One of the funniest radio call ins to local Sangamon County GOP host, host was bragging, Andy/GOP County Board never raised taxes. First caller, that’s odd because my property taxes go up every year, host didn’t know how to respond.

Comment by BTO2 Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:31 am
The Sangamon County GOP is a well-oiled machine. They’re very good at the blocking and tackling of local politics. As others alluded to, candidate recruitment has always been strong and they always have the “farm team” ready when a seat becomes available. Whereas the Democrats don’t even contest every seat. It’s hard to compete for a majority when you can’t even field the number of candidates needed to win one. The local GOP also benefitted for years from patronage when the party controlled the governor’s office. That combined with neglect from every Democrat that’s held the governor’s office since has hurt local Democrats. The city of Springfield is swinging more Democratic in state/federal races and the party now has a majority on the city council, but I’m not sure it will ever take control of the control of the county board — at least not until Andy Van Meter and Brian McFadden are gone.

Comment by Sangamon Watches Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:46 am
Well let’s see now … who draws the county board map?

Comment by Kyle’s mom Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:50 am
===They’re very good at the blocking and tackling of local politics.===

So much good in that phrase and what is being said by it.

Field operations, a stand alone mail program, solid recruitment, and the “blocking and tackling” that is required to be successful in all the above.

That was very well described.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:51 am
BT02, maybe he should have pointed out that there are a bunch of taxing bodies on his tax bill, and it was probably one of them (maybe the school district) that raised the k really tax bill.

Comment by Kyle’s mom Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:52 am
=== … that raised the k really tax bill.===

Perhaps the property appreciated in value?

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:57 am
Also, Dems have failed to field candidates in so many Districts, so GOP members just walk in unopposed. However more Dem candidates have been stepping up to plate under former Chair Turner and new Chair Houlihan

Comment by watchdog Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 10:59 am
Hard to recruit Dem candidates in districts tailor-made to elect or re-elect Reps. Dems flipped a few towards the end but Van Meter will sort that out in the new map. Maybe Dems can get back up 7 members by 2030. *sigh*

Comment by The Real Downstate Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 11:07 am
This is no surprise to me. The local Democratic party is represented by Doris Turner. She does nothing to advance candidates beyond her family and friends. She quietly advances or allows for complete GOP control on exchange for her own self interest. The GOP on this area love her as the county Democratic chairman. Hopefully his will change now that she is a state Senator and she can act with more
Independence to actually help the party. Bottom line is these numbers cannot be achieved without someone on the inside of the Democratic Party.

Comment by Stormsw7706 Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 11:52 am
@Anyone Remember-

=British form of government=

Note I did not say “Unitary” as I am aware of the evolution of British government.

I don’t know about you, but I am not interested in adopting any “British form of government”.

As I stated.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 11:59 am
==The GOP on this area love her as the county Democratic chairman.==

Especially the local GOP that are Lanphier High alums–she’s a LHS alum too and super fan, and her son is the head coach of their powerhouse boys basketball team.

Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 12:14 pm
Sen. Doris Turner resigned as Chair in March. Bill Houlihan is now the Sangamon County Dems Chair.

Comment by FIREDup! Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 12:42 pm
===I don’t pay much if any attention to the county board where I live, so I don’t know if the Democrats just run ridiculously horrible candidates and back them with amazingly lousy campaigns or if the map is truly that lopsided. ===

Are we sure this isn’t just a hold over from when the only way to get a state job was to support the Republican Party? Plenty of those folks are still living (and some even working) in Sangamon County.

If the patronage machine got you your job in the 1980s and 1990s and it’s the only job you’ve ever had, how on earth are you to know that the patronage machine stopped cracking out jobs and you don’t need to support the patronage machine?

Plus, as state government employees will often allude to, they have ways of getting rid of the ones they don’t like.

Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 12:54 pm
Just to add some numbers to the discussion, looking at the 2020 election results:

1) only 1 of 5 Countywide races was contested, no Democrats for GOP held positions & no GOP candidate for the Democratic held office. As for the State’s Attorney race, it was skipped by 2,418 voters and the Democratic candidate received 6,561 fewer voters than Biden whereas the GOP candidate received 6,492 more votes than Trump.

2) there were 15 county board seats up, 9 were unopposed (60%), 8 had GOP candidates & 1 had a Democratic candidate. As for the 6 contested races, 3 were won by the GOP & 3 were won by the Democratic candidate.

Comment by MyTwoCents Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 4:49 pm
Very ironic how the same people who cheer/denounce the state’s redistricting process suddenly take the reverse on this. Oh the hypocrisy of politics.

Comment by Cook County Resident Tuesday, Nov 9, 21 @ 8:15 pm
In our county, the majorities are vastly Republican on boards, commissions, offices, and other districts. Many GOP run unopposed. Dems need to get serious with boots on the ground or we stand to lose a lot. Some are DINOs and not really democratic in nature, in my opinion. We need to keep encouraging our county chairman and hope they see the light.

Comment by It's Just Me . . . Wednesday, Nov 10, 21 @ 6:20 am
=== Some are D_N_s===

Yeah, the thing is, if you’re already trying for purity you’re probably not giving a party a chance to win.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Nov 10, 21 @ 6:35 am
“To the victors go the spoils.” Get better

Comment by Nanis Wednesday, Nov 10, 21 @ 4:48 pm