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Democrats officially launch coordinated campaign

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Illinois

* Press release…

Today, the Democratic Party of Illinois announced the creation of Organize Illinois 2022, a coordinated campaign to elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November. Organize Illinois 2022 is chaired by Secretary of State Jesse White and will support the candidacies of Democratic federal, state, and local nominees by engaging voters around the issues that matter most in the upcoming midterm elections.

“Illinois Democrats are fighting to lower costs, get our state’s fiscal house in order, defend reproductive freedom, combat the gun violence epidemic, protect the environment, expand access to the ballot box, and more—and Republicans only want to drag us backwards,” said Organize Illinois 2022 Chair and Secretary of State Jesse White. “The upcoming midterm elections are absolutely crucial to ensuring our state continues on the right track, and Organize Illinois 2022 is ready to support our Democratic nominees as we get voters to the polls this November. This coordinated campaign will benefit all Democratic nominees by efficiently using shared resources, data, and messaging to ensure Illinois remains a beacon for our shared values. We’ve all seen just how extreme Illinois Republicans have become. Illinois Democrats can and will fight back with a united front at every level.”

Organize Illinois 2022 will be housed within the Democratic Party of Illinois. The effort has been endorsed by the DPI, Gov. JB Pritzker, Lt. Gov Juliana Stratton, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Dick Durbin, Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Democrats for the Illinois House, Senate President Don Harmon and the Illinois Senate Democrats, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Treasurer Michael Frerichs, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul. The program is also expected to support our Secretary of State and Congressional Democratic nominees, once the primary election has concluded.

The Organize Illinois 2022 coordinated campaign allows Democratic nominees to strategically collaborate on voter communications to efficiently campaign across the state. The coordinated campaign is expected to focus on voter engagement strategies to target and turn out voters in support of Democratic candidates up and down the ticket.

* Tribune…

Under Madigan, the state party became a largely insular institution in which its primary goal was to elect House Democrats who would support him staying on as speaker. Other Democratic candidates, meanwhile, were often left to fend for themselves for any campaign coordination. The party’s most valuable asset under Madigan was its bulk-rate postage meter, which non-House candidates had to pay to use for lower-cost campaign mailings.

But since Madigan left, the party has sought to reorganize itself and create a structure more in line with other state Democratic organizations. That work started under the party’s new chair, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, who took over in March of last year. […]

The program is notable not only for being launched in advance of the primary, but also for being signed off on by all of the major Democrats as a state party operation under Kelly.

Pritzker, the billionaire entrepreneur and an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, is expected to fund the operation under Kelly, though last year she was not his choice for state Democratic chair. Pritzker has given indications he may not support Kelly for a full term as party chair when the Democratic State Central Committee meets after the primary.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 8:43 am

Comments

Happy 20th anniversary to the Coordinated Campaign 10.0!
I was involved In 2.0 to 8.0, good to see nothing has changed except for the players!

Comment by Belden Ave. Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 8:49 am
Well look at that. Looks like Will Rogers was wrong.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 8:53 am
== Looks like Will Rogers was wrong.==

Well, I’m sure the insiders can tell us about 100 things that are going wrong. But still, this is a far cry from the Pat Quinn days.

Comment by Arsenal Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 9:37 am
This is progress & if Bailey wins the Republican primary, it seems that the Secretary of State race will be the main campaign statewide & the 50/50 US House districts (that can keep the US House of Representatives under the leadership of the Democrats) will be another focus. If Griffin is trying to assist the challengers for other statewide offices, a good idea is to assist those incumbents, too.

Comment by Chris in ChiTown Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 10:08 am
== - Belden Ave. - Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 8:49 am:

Happy 20th anniversary to the Coordinated Campaign 10.0!
I was involved In 2.0 to 8.0, good to see nothing has changed except for the players! ==

I was thinking the same thing. I was involved the coordinated campaign 20 years ago for state Supreme Court race and congressional race. I also volunteered for the coordinated voter hotline a few campaigns. I’m glad they’re rebranding after the Madigan days but this isn’t really new for Illinois.

Comment by olden days Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 10:15 am
state party became a largely insular institution …huh? And that must explain the super majorities, All D statewides, growth of office holders of color at many levels throughout the state. Agree with Belden Ave. and Olden Days this is a reprise of past cycles. But it does provide a nice contrast to the mish mash Chairman Tracey has developed

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 11:06 am
I guess they can read polls to see what is important to voters but what is the evidence that Democrats fighting to lower costs and stop the gun violence epidemic?

Banning assault rifles won’t do much to decrease record violent gun crime in Illinois

Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 12:14 pm
==Banning assault rifles won’t do much to decrease record violent gun crime in Illinois==

So what will? You must have some idea since you are making statements like that.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 12:48 pm
They could try locking up repeat violent gun offenders and return to charging 16 and 17 year old repeat violent offenders as adults

11 guns were seized from North Avenue Beach last weekend because officers were searching bags for liquor and found guns

Stop question and frisk is a proven strategy to get illegal guns off the streets

Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 1:11 pm
What happens with stop, question and frisk if the person refuses? Sure, in this example, they can’t go to the beach, but they can refuse and simply go somewhere else. I don’t think the city government has the right to just stop, question and frisk everyone everwhere in the city. And were it to become a policy, it would have to be fairly applied to all communities. I don’t think that would be very polular.

Comment by cermak_rd Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 1:54 pm
Isn’t there an old saying “Democrats fall in line not love.”

Comment by B Team Monday, Jun 6, 22 @ 5:48 pm