According to the 2020 Census, Cook County is 40% white, 26% Latino, 22% Black and 8% Asian. Chicago is 21% of the state’s population.
But the statewide ticket recently endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party is overwhelmingly made up of white Chicagoans (JB Pritzker, Alexi Giannoulias, Mike Frerichs and Margaret Croke), with two Black Chicagoans (lieutenant governor candidate Christian Mitchell and Kwame Raoul) and no Latinos or Asian Americans.
Outgoing Latina Comptroller Susana Mendoza did not endorse a replacement, and it seems unlikely she would’ve endorsed the only Latina who tossed her hat into the ring, Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago. Villa is unabashedly progressive, while Mendoza is a far more conservative Democrat.
Villa’s progressive views may have cost her the party slating, which Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, obtained by a super-slim margin.
One contributing issue was Villa’s co-sponsorship of a bill (SB2462) to repeal the state ban on investing pension funds into companies that are boycotting Israel. Perhaps to quell any speculation, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle asked Villa during a party meeting if she had ever said that Israel didn’t have the right to exist. Villa “adamantly denied it,” said one top source.
Villa did not win the support of conservative-to-moderate Latino committeepersons like Alds. Gil Villegas, Ray Lopez and Silvana Tabares.
Some Black committeepersons, except for state Senators, also went with Rep. Croke partly because they wanted to move away from progressive politics (quite a few were with Paul Vallas in the last mayoral election, you may recall). Others were with her because she’s a House colleague. Others obviously thought she had the best chance to win and could help them raise funds.
The bottom line, though, is that the worst-kept secret of the past several months is that Croke would run for comptroller if the incumbent Mendoza decided to step aside in favor of a probable run for mayor. Croke therefore had a big head start over Villa and Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim.
Croke, an ally of Pritzker and a favorite of Pritzker’s top staff, was able to line up powerful backers and gathered some expert advice. More importantly, though, she did the work, and as microscopically narrow as her victory was, a win is a win.
Unlike Croke, Villa and Clerk Kim kind of came out of nowhere. And Villa reported a paltry $12,000 in her campaign account at the end of June. Kim reported just $44,000. That’s not the sort of presentation you want to make to a bunch of folks who hardly knew you even existed until Friday. Croke had $262,000 in the bank, but it’s assumed she has access to much, much more.
Senate President Don Harmon pointed to the potential of an all-Chicago, white-dominated statewide ticket to argue for either his member Villa’s slating or for an open primary. It didn’t work. Mayor Brandon Johnson has severely damaged the local progressive brand, and Latino voters and their leaders aren’t tied to identity politics if it conflicts with their own (or their constituents’) ideologies. Not to mention that Villa lives in DuPage County and has no local base and didn’t give herself time to make inroads.
No word at this writing on whether Villa or Kim will move ahead with campaigns. Also, Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, has told some people she’s interested in running for comptroller.
Meanwhile, the Cook County Democrats’ decision not to slate anyone for U.S. Senate was a big win for U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. He has such a huge monetary advantage in this race ($21 million cash on hand) that avoiding the threat of the party backing another candidate means he can continue flooding the ad zone without worrying about a coordinated effort to defeat him in the party’s most influential county. Frankly, a slating might have made him look “too inevitable.”
Was this a loss for Pritzker, who has endorsed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton? Yes, at least on the surface.
But I’ve had the impression from the beginning that, while Pritzker is definitely supporting her, Stratton has to go out and prove herself.
Her quarterly campaign contribution report didn’t impress anyone, and that had to weigh against Stratton during slating.
Right now, all three candidates, including U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, are running cautious, generic Democratic campaigns, with few differences between them. The person with the most money will always win that race.