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Bush says she has no interest whatsoever in being state party chair, period

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RESULTS ARE IN: State Sen. Melinda Bush has won the 10th District Democratic State Central Committeewoman race. In an email to supporters, former state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash said late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots have been counted, and “it appears our campaign will come up just short.” Out of 50,681 ballots cast, Bush received 50.2 percent of the vote to Gash’s 49.8 percent.

Bush had the endorsement and financial backing of Gov. JB Pritzker, so political insiders expect she could be his candidate when the central committee meets in the coming weeks to elect the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois. Also in the running will be the current party leader, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, who has the support of Sen. Dick Durbin.

Sen. Bush has told me on several occasions that she had no interest whatsoever in the party’s top job. I never wrote that because, well, nobody has even so much suggested it. But I checked back in with her today just to make sure and Bush’s response to the story was, um, unprintable. Suffice it to say, she doesn’t want the post and won’t seek it. I’m not sure where that even came from.

Whatever. At this point, I’m kinda doubting there will be much of a fight, if any. If the governor thought he had the votes, you’d think there’d be some sort of an announcement by now.

…Adding… Sen. Bush…

Today, State Senator Melinda Bush released the following statement on her victory in the race for Democratic State Central Committeeperson for the Tenth District:

“I am humbled that Democratic voters of the tenth district have chosen me to represent them on the Illinois Democratic State Central Committee and am thrilled to be given the opportunity to identify, recruit and re-elect great candidates to expand our representation across the district. Working in concert with a great team of talented activists and organizations like Lake County Democratic Women, I know what it takes to position Democrats to win tough races - recruit good candidates, surround them with talented staff, run strategic campaigns and then hold them accountable after they take office. This is an approach that has worked well for us in Lake County and I look forward to partnering with my fellow members of the Democratic State Central Committee to bring it statewide.

“Thank you to everyone who supported my campaign and stood by our side. You forever have my gratitude. I would also like to thank Lauren Beth Gash for her years of dedicated service to the district and our party. Her continued engagement in this work will be welcomed and is needed.”

Senator Bush won the race for Democratic State Central Committeeperson for the Tenth District by 247 votes. She won 60% of the vote in McHenry County, 55% of the vote in Lake County, and 31% of the vote in Cook County.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:07 am

Comments

I suspect the money to DPI and the Coordinated Campaign announcement indicate that Pritzker doesn’t relish the idea of replacing party chairs just a couple months before the election. But maybe he’ll try anyway since he won’t get another chance for awhile, and Kelly’s issues aren’t going away.

Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:11 am
===If the governor thought he had the votes, you’d think there’d be some sort of an announcement by now.===

Are we at the point of this exercise where it’s “let’s hope we can quietly move on and forget it?”

The voters made their choices. That’s all you can ask.

Pritzker can continue to ignore and bypass DPI, treat it as an indicia, not be a part of it… he doesn’t need them.

But, it was the voters that decided, not Durbin, not Pritzker… and whatever happens now, that’s up to the Pritzker, which could very well be… ignoring them.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:15 am
JB brain trust 0 for 2 on DPI power politics.

Comment by NotRich Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:17 am
I hope Senator Bush will keep Robin Kelly as DPI chair.

Comment by Lake Villa Township Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:20 am
===0 for 2 on DPI power politics===

What exactly has been “won” with Pritzker not leading?

The “victors” were seemingly whining that Pritzker wasn’t involved, then whined they had to run for their seats instead of being elitists insiders that get free passes… now they “won” again…

Ok, if the won… now what? What exactly is “won”?

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:20 am
JB’s brain trust proved they can win and honestly, put very little effort towards ousting people who felt entitled to their positions. The message was don’t mess with us and they won enough to change the course of the party. Whether or not they actually do it doesn’t matter. They made their point.

Comment by hmmmm Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:29 am
JB’s brain trust proved they can win and honestly, put very little effort towards ousting people who felt entitled to their positions. The message was don’t mess with us and they won enough to change the course of the party. Whether or not they actually do it doesn’t matter. They made their point.

Comment by hmmmm Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:29 am
===They made their point. ===

lol

Losing is not a point to make.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:30 am
=== If the governor thought he had the votes, you’d think there’d be some sort of an announcement by now. ===

Looking back on this whole episode, it’s kind of surprising that Pritzker never actually acknowledged what he was up to. Whenever he was asked he’d just say “the party is united and I support Robin Kelly’s reelection to Congress.” I guess him continuing to not talk about it makes sense. Still weirds me out.

=== I’m not sure where that even came from. ===

“political insiders,” obviously. So that narrows it down to anyone who flagged their birthday for Shia. /s

Comment by vern Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:33 am
They didn’t lose. They have enough votes to do whatever they want. They already figured out a coordinated campaign for this go around, so why rock the boat right now?

Comment by hmmmm Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:38 am
Hmmmmmm: they have “enough votes” to elect a new chair?? Just like the had enough votes in 2021 to elect Michelle Harris chair???

Comment by NotRich Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:40 am
===They already figured out a coordinated campaign for this go around===

Then why the silence?

And all of a sudden Kelly is magically able to do things Kelly admittedly said she can’t?

This was a public fight, no public resolution to the matter?

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:40 am
“JB’s brain trust proved they can win … They made their point.”

They lost. They also may not have the votes or a candidate to even whip votes for or “change the course of the party.”

But sure, they made their point, if their point was “Don’t mess with us, or we’ll spend money and run candidates against you but won’t win the majority of them and still won’t have the votes to take over DPI (again).”

#JB24 better hope that their presidential campaign operation is better than their SCC/DPI campaign operation, and their fair tax campaign operation, and their SDEM leadership campaign operation.

Comment by Supper Club Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:41 am
Perhaps insiders tallying wins and losses can enlighten us on who won and lost and who is with who.

Comment by Uninformed Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:41 am
“They have enough votes to do whatever they want.”

Do they?

Comment by Supper Club Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:42 am
DPI is doing an amazing job of actually doing less than what they claim MJM did for Democrats in this state. Well done.

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:44 am
What exactly was won?

Pritzker may have lost, we’ll know soon enough…

… but what was won?

It’s not like this DPI is anything other than a bunch of entitled, elitist insiders get to thumb their nose at one of the people that could, if he chose to, fund all their wishes and dreams of what a state party might be.

What was won? It appears no one has an answer?

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:45 am
“What was won? It appears no one has an answer?”

DPI: Wins nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity.

Pritzker: Wins one more ivory backscratcher.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 10:59 am
=== What was won? It appears no one has an answer? ===

Ok, I’ll bite.

The main victory was for decentralization. The party apparatus, long wielded by one man with narrow goals, is now a joint effort. This result incentivizes cooperation and negotiation. You and I disagree about who the “entitled elitist” is in this situation, but now nobody has the luxury to act entitled. JB has his share of power, as does Durbin,, as does Robin Kelly, as do lots of other folks with regional influence.

All political parties are exercises in collective action. Sometimes that means the collective turning the keys over willingly to one person who has either the money or influence to take control. We’ve seen that in both parties in Illinois, the Democrats under Madigan and the Republicans under Rauner/Griffin/Uhilein. They were both suboptimal arrangements. The victory was for some autonomy on behalf of people who aren’t billionaires, governors, or both.

Comment by vern Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:03 am
=== The main victory was for decentralization. ===

So how has this effort helped get democrats elected in this state so far?

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:12 am
==So how has this effort helped get democrats elected in this state so far?==

Huh? There hasn’t been a general election yet.

Comment by So_Ill Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:17 am
Dems had a chance to embrace Pritzker’s philosophy of politics and government. He ran candidates, endorsed them and funded them.
They, like his candidate for Secretary of State, lost.
Perhaps it might be a better approach to hope that the democrats that rejected his candidates hold their noses, turn out in November and vote for him in the fall.
Politics used to be a business of addition. Might be a good course for Team Pritzker to think about.
Primary is over. Time to put issues that were settled in the primary behind us.

Comment by Back to the Future Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:19 am
=== The main victory was for decentralization.===

And?

LOL… the current chair is admitted to be a mere figurehead, legally so.

Then I hope these “winners” stop asking thise like the HDems, SDems, and the governor for help.

They won. Have at it. Go crazy. You’re decentralized, lol

===JB has his share of power, as does Durbin,, as does Robin Kelly, as do lots of other folks with regional influence.===

Kelly has NO power. Let’s just stop that.

Durbin, he wants the state party, have at it. Pritzker *doesn’t need* it, may have wanted it, but owes ZERO to these folks… maybe a $1,000 check, but not much more.

Welp, I hope these folks enjoy their position, which hasn’t changed.

Pritzker doesn’t need them, less the indica.

I see no win here for the decentralizers.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:19 am
I don’t understand who won but it seems clear to me that Madigan and his cronies are losing. So that’s a positive.

Comment by Lurker Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:22 am
===The main victory was for decentralization.===

DPI could not have been more decentralized than it was under Madigan.

He didn’t try to ride herd over all the different factions - Daley, Durbin, Jones/Cullerton, Congresscritters, various county parties.

Everyone did their own thing. And, during that time, Dems had unprecedented electoral success.

Comment by Moe Berg Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:26 am
To me, it’s almost shocking that Team JB couldn’t pull off this take over. He had all the money in the world AND the power of the Governorship behind him. Fine to argue that nobody “won” here, but there’s no doubt who lost. As others have pointed out, those losses seem to be piling up, and it’s starting to feel petty and unnecessary given the bigger ambitions.

Comment by McGuppin Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 11:55 am
I’m surprised Kelly wants to keep her job so badly. She’s gonna have to wear the jacket for the biggest Dem losses in a decade. Pritzker should’ve just waited to let her make the case for her ouster on her own record.

Comment by Surly Dan Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 12:11 pm
JB has been an excellent governor and he is a good campaigner in his own right. But when he tries to extend his reach into other political realms (DPI, Senate Prez race, moving appointments/initiatives through the GA, etc.) he stumbles.

Comment by Anon4 Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 12:16 pm
“Suffice it to say, she doesn’t want the post and won’t seek it.“

Easy decision to not seek what Bush can’t have. Votes aren’t there for her nor Michelle Harris. Natalie Manley lost and so did JB’s other Chair candidate Jehan Gordon Booth. Chair Robin Kelly is here to stay so let’s continue to help Democrats, starting in November and continue to work on building a grassroots party.

Comment by Dem Unity Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 12:49 pm
===Chair Robin Kelly is here to stay===

Kelly is a non-factor figurehead.

===let’s continue to help Democrats===

Pritzker, if this stays the same, might go it alone. Why fund Durbin’s thing with a figurehead leading, skip the middle groups

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 12:58 pm
=== let’s continue to help Democrats, starting in November and continue to work on building a grassroots party. ===

Before you continue to do something, you have to start it first.

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 1:41 pm
I’m going to take a pause from the JB-Durbin battle and mention that Lauren and the Lake County party establishment went all in against Melinda and losr multiple races. I wonder if that Great Lake County expert Vern even knows where his poor analysis of the Sam/Mary race went wrong. Melinda has shown who the real
County Dem chair is in Lake.

Comment by Lake me Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 3:36 pm
Lake me -

I know exactly where I went wrong there. I thought Yingling would have the benefit of 12 years of name ID in Grayslake and win his own district fairly handily. I assumed that most voters liked Yingling, liked Bush, and didn’t know MEA. Not being a Grayslake resident, I didn’t see the extent to which Yingling had alienated his own constituents.

As for “the real County Dem chair,” I would suggest for Bush the same thing I’ve suggested for Pritzker: try getting some flies with honey. Bush had success this year in 4 primaries that were important to her, and lost 4, most quite badly. Before this year, she was involved in winning a few County Board races and one countywide race. But she wasn’t single-handedly responsible for flipping the county board, and that countywide official has since become a Republican. She deserves credit for her wins, but she is not the only Democrat winning elections in Lake County and she would have a better case for leadership if she could acknowledge that.

Comment by vern Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 4:36 pm
Hopefully he doesn’t have the same people counting votes for him as he did last time.

Comment by ;) Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 5:23 pm
@Lake me

===Lauren and the Lake County party establishment went all in against Melinda===

Correction: Melinda went all in against Lauren and the Lake County “party establishment” with the backing of a billionaire in $50,000 installments, won her old senate district, and got spanked most everywhere else in the 10th. That’s an interesting take, though.

One has party building credentials. The other doesn’t. Gonna be an interesting midterm…

Comment by Correction Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 5:28 pm
Durbin thought it would be a good idea to make a member of congress the state party chair. Pritzker thought it would be a good idea to make a Chicago alderman the state party chair. Those two both need to wake up. They should be better at this by now.

Comment by Rufus T. Firefly Wednesday, Jul 13, 22 @ 8:13 pm
===got spanked most everywhere else===

lol

Supreme Court nominee Elizabeth Rochford and 62nd House District nominee Laura Faver Dias would disagree.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jul 14, 22 @ 7:31 am
@Vern…with respect to Yingling name recognition. He didn’t even win his own precinct. Yingling may have name recognition, but it is not positive.
Now the head scratcher is Mason. Bush played a significant role of getting Mason into the House. Lots of photo ops with Mary, Joyce and Melinda. So why the shift for Mason who went full in with supporting Yingling? Is this Mason’s swan song as she heads to November. Quite frankly, Mason put her eggs in the wrong basket.

Comment by LC Progress Thursday, Jul 14, 22 @ 7:56 am
=== Now the head scratcher is Mason. ===

I don’t have any inside information on Mason’s thinking, but she did serve with both Yingling and MEA in the House. As for swans and eggs, the primaries are over. Are you suggesting that Bush might prefer a Republican win that House seat? That would put a real damper on the “real county party chair” talk, to say the least.

Comment by vern Thursday, Jul 14, 22 @ 8:44 am
@vern…Bush prefer GOP over Mason. Naw…but my guess is the GOP is going to tie Mason to Yingling and she is not in a real blue district.

Comment by LC Progress Thursday, Jul 14, 22 @ 5:15 pm