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Morning campaign stuff

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Illinois

* A quick roundup to start your day…

* Bailey references ‘transphobic’, ‘antisemitic’ conspiracy theory at debate: During the second Governor’s debate, Darren Bailey deflected when asked about how he would change Illinois’ abortion laws. Instead of answering the question, Bailey changed the subject, referencing a conspiracy theory about current Governor J.B. Pritzker and his family foundation’s investments in healthcare.

* Beyond the heated rhetoric about bail, what else is in the SAFE-T Act?: But the elimination of cash bail is only one piece of the massive SAFE-T Act. Here are five more things the act did to change criminal justice in Illinois.

* Race Between Pritzker, Bailey May be Tightening as Voting Turnout Remains Sluggish: Early voting in Chicago is also off to a sluggish start compared to the 2018 election. At this point four years ago, there were 29,000 residents who had cast early ballots, compared to 19,000 this year, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. “I don’t see a lot of voter enthusiasm,” political strategist Thom Serafin told NBC 5.

* We Asked Every Republican in a Tight Race Whether They’d Denounce Alex Jones: More than 70 Republican candidates in competitive congressional and gubernatorial races across the country declined to denounce Alex Jones for popularizing the myth that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting never happened.

* Walker, Vrett Square Off In 53rd House District Forum: Discussing gun violence, both Walker and Vrett harkened back to their experiences in the military. Both men were Army soldiers. Vrett served in Afghanistan and Walker in Vietnam. Vrett said education about guns needs to be brought back to schools so students can learn to respect weapons and rules, such as keeping them under lock and key.

* Amendment ‘right thing’ for workers? Or ‘government union power play’? Proposal stirs debate on union rights, worker safety: Supporters say the amendment will enshrine collective bargaining rights as fundamental Illinois law and help workers bargain for measures that affect public safety. Detractors call it a power grab by organized labor that will raise the cost of government and, therefore, property taxes.

* More to come!

posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 8:37 am

Comments

== “I don’t see a lot of voter enthusiasm,” ==

The question is who will low turnout help the most? My guess is the GOP. There will likely be some races closer than expected.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 8:43 am
==My guess is the GOP.==

I would go the other way in IL, given the organizational advantage Illinois Democrats enjoy.

Nationwide, I suspect low turnout benefits Republicans more, but also nationwide we’re not seeing low enthusiasm.

Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 8:46 am
“Vrett said education about guns needs to be brought back to schools so students can learn to respect weapons and rules, such as keeping them under lock and key.”

I see this sentiment a lot on gun freak reddit, which is full of men whose lives revolve around their guns - upgrading their guns, taking pictures of their guns, and hysterically worrying about mostly non-existent attempts to regulate their guns. Our kids are coming out of 2 years in which the pandemic interrupted their education severely, so let’s have them spend classroom time learning about safely handling the guns most of them will never choose to own?

One of the underrated realities of American life is that once you become a gun owner you start to get inundated by guns uber alles nonsense like this, and a lot of people are too dumb to think their way out of it. It’s an intellectual black hole, where maximally expansive individual gun rights are somehow the central tenet of modern civilization.

Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 8:52 am
= Instead of answering the question, Bailey changed the subject, =

That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.

Comment by JoanP Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 9:10 am
“Detractors call it a power grab by organized labor that will raise the cost of government and, therefore, property taxes.”
So detractors are saying that local government employees are underpaid and that’s okay?

Comment by Curious citizen Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 9:26 am
Myself I’m wondering what happens when thousands of Chicago voters go to their “regular” polling places Nov 8 and they’re all told to go somewhere else. I can’t think that’s gonna help Democrats.

Comment by ZC Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 9:53 am
More than 70 Republican candidates in competitive congressional and gubernatorial races across the country declined to denounce Alex Jones for popularizing the myth that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting never happened.

Scary. If a candidate is unable to even state that junk like this is BS, what do they actually stand for? If they don’t stand for denouncing obvious lies, what other idiocy do they believe in?

Comment by Teacher Lady Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 9:57 am
“Chicago voters go to their “regular” polling places Nov 8 and they’re all told to go somewhere else. I can’t think that’s gonna help Democrats”

Cook should follow Dupage’s example and allow voters to go to any polling place on election day. No need to find a home precinct. Super convenient plus you can get away from the prying eyes of neighbors/friends/enemies that may be local judges/poll watchers.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 10:12 am
I’m a Democrat and did not vote for Amendment 1. I fully support private unions, but do not think public employees (especially in local government, which I work) should unionize. If it passes and property taxes go up as a result I can almost gurantee we will unionize to afford the increased costs. Sure it just adds to the problem, but this is Illinois and that how things go.

Comment by Local Gov Emp Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 10:25 am
==but do not think public employees (especially in local government, which I work) should unionize==

But they already do.

Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 11:13 am
=Vrett said education about guns needs to be brought back to schools so students can learn to respect weapons and rules=

This is pure unadulterated laziness.

The DNR hosts dozens of local hunter training courses that are focused on youth hunters and specifically instructs them on gun safety.

If you are too lazy to look up a class date and time, then you don’t deserve to have a gun. Public schools are not here to be everything to everyone.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 11:24 am
Very hard to find DNR hunter safety classes and all students would benefit some gun safety knowledge. If the schools can afford the time to teach about some of the non-education related stuff they do, they could certainly do that too.

Comment by logic not emotion Thursday, Oct 27, 22 @ 2:24 pm