With the much-anticipated race between Governor Bruce Rauner and J.B. Prtitzker coming down the stretch run for November’s election, voters everywhere are looking forward to . . .
Chicago’s mayoral election?
Oh, brother, that doesn’t take place until February 2019.
You know, we’re a little like the Charles Grodin character in The Heartbreak Kid (the classic 70s version) who’s never satisfied with what he’s got and so is always looking for something new.
Watch—even with all the excitement over the mayor’s race since Rahm threw in the towel and announced he wasn’t going to run for reelection—when it finally comes around to electing a new mayor, everybody will be talking about who’s the best Democrat to beat Trump in 2020.
Actually, I’m doing a lot of that right now—the Iowa caucuses are only 15 months away.
But back to November’s election. Time to show some resistance, everybody.
In this case, voters in the suburbs are very lucky. Unlike Democrats in Chicago, they actually get to take a stand against Trump by voting against some of his congressional stooges.
For instance, want to oust Peter Roskam, a climate-change denier who vehemently opposes a woman’s right to choose and is too cowardly to denounce Trump?
Then you can look forward to voting for Sean Casten, his Democratic challenger, provided you live in the Sixth Congressional District, which covers parts of DuPage, Lake, and suburban Cook Counties.
Want to elect a progressive, pro-choice nurse who wants to expand health care? Then you get to vote for Lauren Underwood, who’s running against Randy Hultgren, a Trump rubber-stamper—if you live in the 14th Congressional District out in McHenry County.
And if you live in the 16th Congressional District, you can help stun the nation by electing a Democrat in a district that went strongly for Trump. You can do that by voting for Sara Dady, an immigrants’ rights lawyer out of Rockford, who’s running an uphill battle against Adam Kinzinger, another Trump loyalist.
And even if you’re a Chicagoan, you can still get involved in those races, because plenty of phone callers, door knockers, and envelope stuffers are needed—just check with the folks at Blue Beginning for details.
As for me, as uncool as this sounds, I’m looking forward to voting for J.B. Pritzker for governor. I know, I know—Pritzker is more or less a centrist Democrat who hasn’t been on the front lines of any of the local fights I’ve been waging for years.
But so what? This is an existential crisis for Illinois voters. Rauner has spent the last three years attempting to do to Illinois what Scott Walker did to Wisconsin—turn it into an anti-union one-party state that helps put creeps like Trump in the White House.
I’m looking forward to pushing Pritzker to the left—once he gets into office.
So, yes, even with Chicago’s election heating up, I’ve got my eyes on this November. Take care of the pressing business at hand and move on from there. v