Illinois Dems make move to decentralize power
US Rep. Robin Kelly picked to succeed Michael Madigan as state party chair
The election of U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson as Illinois Democratic chairman represented the party’s growing effort to move beyond the one-man control exercised by embattled former House Speaker Michael Madigan over 23 years.
Kelly’s election over Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, by the Illinois Democratic State Central Committee also revealed another fault line in the political operation of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who had backed Harris and is seeking reelection in 2022.
In Wednesday night’s vote of the 36-member Democratic State Central Committee, with each member’s ballot weighted by the number of votes cast in the 2020 March primary, Kelly got 52% to 48% for Harris.
Pritzker, the first-term Democratic governor, had sought to consolidate power over the party following the once-powerful Madigan’s departure from the political scene.
Instead, the wealthy heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, who has the ability to bankroll Democrats, found a committee more interested in a future of decentralized leadership as it seeks to grow in Republican areas through the participation of activists spawned by Donald Trump’s 2016 election as president.
Heading into a critical reelection year, Pritzker has sustained losses in his push for a graduated-rate income tax, an effort to dictate a new state Senate president and now in his choice for the Democratic chairmanship.
Some Democratic committee members said privately that a personnel realignment is expected in the governor’s political operation.
Those Democrats also said they fully support Pritzker for governor and the progressive legislation he has backed, most recently in criminal justice changes backed by the legislature’s Black Caucus. But they also said the Democratic political structure needs to be more inclusive for growth entering what could be a challenging midyear election.
Former U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello of Belleville, a committee member who backed Harris, underscored the challenges ahead for the state Democratic Party.
“I believe that 2022 is going to be a difficult year for our party, both at the national level and at the state level,” said Costello, whose Metro-East area was once a Democratic stronghold. “We’re going to be challenged, and we’re going to have to come together and raise a lot of money in order to maintain the majorities that we have in the General Assembly and in Congress.”
Though the top of the 2022 ticket will feature Pritzker and first-term U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who also backed Harris for party chair, the choice of Kelly became a rejection of what has been an old guard party establishment. Harris also was backed by Madigan, former state Senate President John Cullerton and U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis of Chicago.
Kelly had the support of more progressive committee members including Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Michael Cabonargi, former state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash of Highland Park, former state Sen. Carol Ronen and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia of Chicago.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Reps. Cheri Bustos of Moline, Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Sean Casten of Downers Grove, who are not members of the committee, lobbied members on Kelly’s behalf.
Kelly has been a member of Congress since 2013 and fills the unexpired term of Madigan’s chairmanship through the spring of 2022. A graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, she previously served in the Illinois House, was chief of staff to former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and was the party’s unsuccessful nominee for state treasurer in 2010.
Kelly touted her background as well as the makeup of her Southwest Side and suburban 2nd Congressional District, which she said is “urban, suburban and rural, which gives me the perspective needed to serve all Democrats no matter what part of the state they come from.”
“I understand the issues that Democrats running for office throughout Illinois face because I’ve been there,” Kelly said, pledging support for “greater transparency, engagement and building of a deep Democratic bench across all 102 counties.”
“I will bring together a statewide coalition that not only includes long-term stakeholders, but also engages the grassroots,” Kelly said. “It’s time party leadership reflects the diversity of the state across all demographics and regions.”
The party chairmanship’s race was not without controversy. Outside attorneys for the state Democratic Party warned that Kelly, as a federal officeholder, would be prohibited from raising state money because Illinois fundraising rules are less strict than the federal rules that bind the congresswoman.
The state’s largest labor organization, the Illinois AFL-CIO, had expressed caution over a Kelly chairmanship. Labor is a major contributor to Democratic fundraising in Illinois.
During Wednesday night’s virtual meeting, Cullerton, the former Illinois Senate president, noted 83% of the money raised by the state Democratic Party is collected under the looser state restrictions.
“We’re going to have a serious problem. Look, the Republicans are going to have a field day with this,” Cullerton said of a Kelly chairmanship. “I think this is going to be a quagmire we’re going to get in if you’re successful.”
But Kelly cited federal officeholders who serve as state chairs in Georgia and Colorado.
“Every memo from every lawyer said I can chair the party,” she said, adding that “there are things that can be put in place, guardrails in place, and I can still raise federal money.”
Inability to directly raise or control state funds “is not going to be an obstacle,” Kelly said, noting she raised millions under tighter federal regulations at the request of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi tweeted her support for Kelly earlier in the day.
Under Madigan, the state Democratic Party largely became a fundraising mechanism for Illinois House candidates and members to help him preserve power, with Democrats running for other offices left on their own or reliant upon other party leaders to raise money.
Kelly said the work of fundraising and deciding where funds go could be spread out among the state central committee members as another example of decentralizing power. Other Democrats said the state party’s bylaws will be rewritten to try to avoid any conflict with federal fundraising restrictions.
The choice of Kelly is the latest move in more than a year of tumultuous party politics that have rocked Democrats’ longtime leadership under Madigan.
The former longtime House speaker has been embroiled in a federal investigation of Commonwealth Edison since last summer, though he has not been charged with anything and denies any wrongdoing. In recent weeks, Madigan has been deposed from the House speakership he held for 36 years, and he stepped down from both the state House seat he held for a halfcentury and the Democratic chairmanship post he held since 1998.
Madigan remains on the state party committee and voted for Harris.
Kelly’s election also continues an abrupt shift for Democrats who now see their party’s largest organizations run by women, including two women of color: Kelly, becoming the first Black elected as state party chair, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who heads the Cook County Democratic Party. Kristina Zahorik, of McHenry County, leads the Democratic County Chairs’ Association.
Harris also faced opposition due to the optics of having the party once again led by a Chicago Democrat. Aside from Pritzker, the top state Democratic spots are all held by suburbanites, representing a shift from the city’s party power base.
The vote also means both Democrats and Republicans find themselves with new party chairs heading into a rigorous 2022 campaign cycle. Democrats hold all statewide offices that are up on the 2022 ballot, as well as the state’s Democraticdominated congressional delegation, and Illinois House and Senate.
Last month, Springfield attorney and business owner Don Tracy was elected by GOP committeeman as the state’s new Republican chairman, replacing former Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider of Streamwood, who resigned from the post he had held since 2014.