APRIL 2019 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
By Kim Savage
The recent municipal elections consumed the focus for many local Democrats for the past few months. Kudos to District 86 for finally passing a much needed referendum. Congratulations are in order to the Democrats who won seats on the Downers Grove Village Council, Darien City Council, school boards, library boards, and fire districts. While these are non-partisan races, make no mistake that the Republicans have used these opportunities to control the field for the past many years.
In the age of Trump, there has been a great clamor from Democrats to know who “their candidates” are. The problem is that some of the candidates, who are Democrats, do not want to be identified with that label and are not involved at all with party politics. We will develop a new solution for this issue moving forward. We will also have to rethink how we discuss these matters at our meetings, since we have had a Republican attend and cause some disruption to our last two meetings. It is unfortunate that we can’t have an open discussion of issues and strategies without concern for interlopers in the room.
Now that the local elections are over, you may be thinking it is time for a break. Maybe you can have a short breather, but it is now 2020 Game On! We can’t just talk about wanting a blue wave, or continuing a blue wave, we must be active in making it happen. From recruiting qualified candidates for county and state level offices to winnowing down the field of presidential candidates, the work needs to start now. Over the next few months, we will be preparing for the petition season when candidates will need to collect a sufficient amount of signatures to get on the ballot for the 2020 Primary Election.
Do you know someone who would be a great candidate? Do you have an interest in running? Stay tuned for informational sessions about running for office and how we will be successful in electing Democrats. In the meantime, get ready to gear up. I am sure the local Republicans will be working hard to reclaim seats that they lost in 2018.