SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Democrats led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker celebrated their day at the State Fair on Wednesday with a withering repudiation of Republicans from former President Donald Trump on down, contending voters’ lack of patience with GOP policies and tactics has led to their minority status in the state.
“They say they want to solve real problems. But then they spend all of their time screaming conspiracy theories about the purge, about Disney, about green M&Ms and space lasers,” Pritzker told several hundred people at the annual Democratic County Chairs’ Brunch.
The festivities, both at the brunch in the downtown Bank of Springfield Center and later on the director’s lawn at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, provided an early look into Democrats’ strategy for the 2024 election, focusing on a platform of protecting democracy and abortion rights a year ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The vote for president is the only statewide race next year, but the ballot will also include all 17 congressional seats — with Democrats now holding a 14-3 advantage — as well as all 118 state House and at least 20 of the 59 state Senate seats.
Democrats hold a 78-40 advantage over Republicans in the state House and a 40-19 edge in the state Senate — both supermajorities.
“When you think about what’s happening across the nation, banning of books, attack on civil rights, attack on voting rights, attacks on our democracy, attacks on our planet, it’s Democrats that are leading the way forward,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said during the fairgrounds rally.
“But we need you to continue to work hard and make sure that we elect not only folks at the highest level and statewide level, but also judges, library board members, school district board members, state reps, state senators,” he said.
The latest indictment of Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner for the presidential nomination, just two days earlier by a Fulton County grand jury in Atlanta on charges of leading a conspiracy to try to overturn Georgia’s choice of Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election provided fodder for several Democratic attacks.
It was the fourth indictment of Trump on criminal charges, including a case brought by a federal grand jury looking into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol aimed at blocking the Electoral College vote count that made Biden president.
Biden, as part of his current reelection strategy, has not commented on Trump’s legal issues. But Pritzker, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and others didn’t follow the presidential playbook and went full-bore against the former president.
“Republicans demagogue. Democrats deliver. Republicans supported an insurrection and claimed it was an act of patriotism. They falsely claim that they’re the party of law and order while celebrating the four-time indicted presidential candidate,” Pritzker said, noting Illinois twice voted against Trump by 17 percentage points.
Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate and chair of the Judiciary Committee, acknowledged Trump is entitled to be presumed innocent and afforded due process.
“Having said that, the charges against Donald Trump are not just another political wrinkle in the campaign,” the state’s senior senator said. “The charges against Donald Trump are the most serious changes ever made against a public official in America.
“The notion that he would reverse the results of a Democratic election and choice of president of the United States gets to the heart of who we are as a nation.”
Durbin contended the GOP is not only no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln, it is now vastly different from just a few decades ago when Illinois had Republican “governors like Jim Edgar.”
“Sadly, at the national level, it is a party of fear and hate. Unfortunately, those emotions move a lot of voters,” Durbin said. “That is the message of Donald Trump.”
Asked about deviating from the White House strategy of not addressing Trump’s legal challenges, Durbin said, “I do what I think is right.”
Pritzker thanked the county chairs for their help in his reelection, saying, “Together, we built a blue wave — a tsunami that swept away the red wall of Uihleins and Griffins and Rauners and Trumps.”
Conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest spent $54 million backing Pritzker’s far-right opponent Darren Bailey last year. Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel Investments, spent $50 million on Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s third-place finish in last year’s GOP gubernatorial primary and moved his firm to Florida. Republican Bruce Rauner served one term as governor before being defeated by Pritzker in 2018 and has moved his primary residence to Florida.
“Illinois Democrats have done more in the last five years to push back on the wave of authoritarian, anti-democratic MAGA Republican nonsense than in any other place in the country,” the governor said. “Leave it to us to raise the tallest flag in the fight against modern American fascism.”
But at the same time, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton acknowledged a growing political, geographic and ideological divide in Illinois, where urban areas are increasingly becoming more Democratic while rural downstate has turned more Republican.
“We know our fight is only getting harder. Blue Illinois might be getting bluer. But red Illinois is only getting redder,” Stratton said. “As Democrats, we must band together and fight this far-right extremism that has somehow become the mainstream” for Republicans.
The state’s Republicans have their day at the fairgrounds on Thursday, and are expected to counter Democratic attacks on Trump by drawing attention to the legal problems surrounding former longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is facing federal corruption charges, and a U.S. Justice Department special counsel probe of Biden’s son, Hunter.
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