Capital Facts

Fight for control of Illinois Democrats favors Pritzker

Published by admin on Sat, 08/06/2022 - 10:30am

One of the biggest unsung winners in the fight for control of the Democratic Party of Illinois is House Speaker Chris Welch.
The new state party chair is Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, a member of Welch’s leadership team. Hernandez handled the delicate task of overseeing the redistricting effort in her chamber last year. She is quite popular in her caucus, including among Latino progressives, who note that Hernandez has been with them on very important votes despite her background as a “regular” Cicero Democrat.

Illinois House leaders make jabs personal

Published by admin on Sat, 07/16/2022 - 10:49am

During a sometimes-fiery interview last week, House Speaker Chris Welch pledged to tie House Republican candidates to the far-right top of their ticket and called House Republican Leader Jim Durkin a “failed leader.” A Durkin spokesperson, in turn, called Welch “unhinged.”
It started when I asked Welch if he thought gun law reform would play a major role in the fall campaign, which is basically just around the corner.

Since winning nomination, Bailey bungles

Published by admin on Sat, 07/09/2022 - 11:25am

Ogden and Fry conducted a poll in the days leading up to former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Quincy area for a U.S. Rep. Mary Miller endorsement in late June.
The poll of Republicans in the Downstate 15th Congressional District taken June 22-24 (Trump’s visit was the 25th) found Miller leading fellow U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis by 8 points, 46-38. When undecideds were pushed to decide, Miller’s lead jumped to 10 points, 55-45. She won by 15 points, 57.6-42.4.

Rep. David Welter loses with a target on his back

Published by admin on Sun, 07/03/2022 - 1:22pm

The four Illinois legislative leaders did not have a spectacular primary day last week. House Speaker Chris Welch lost three incumbents to primary challengers. Senate President Don Harmon lost an appointed incumbent and an open seat race. And House Republican Leader Jim Durkin lost two incumbents and came up short in some other races. Senate GOP Leader Dan McConchie came away with one ding.

Illinois special session could become political minefield

Published by admin on Sat, 06/25/2022 - 9:52am

As I’ve been telling my newsletter subscribers for several weeks now, talks began in mid-May about a possible special state legislative session to address the abortion issue.
Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Chris Welch had some brief chats about bringing legislators back to town back then. Illinois is already an abortion rights oasis in the region, but the Democratic leadership wants to do more, so they talked about possibly having the legislature submit a constitutional amendment for voter approval in November to protect abortion rights.

Latest poll shows IL GOP leaning far right

Published by admin on Sat, 06/11/2022 - 9:29am

The Illinois Republican Party has successfully avoided being dragged into the hard-right camp at the state level for decades. Those days may be over.
With relatively liberal Republicans Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and then George Ryan as governor, the state never embraced the sweeping policy changes which emerged from the “Reagan Revolution” and defined the national party for decades.

What a Pritzker endorsement can do for candidates

Published by admin on Sat, 06/04/2022 - 10:43am

The state’s political world may have been shocked, but I doubt many in that world were surprised at the level of vitriol in Rep. Sam Yingling’s (D-Grayslake) press release last week which claimed he’d been “attacked” by Gov. JB Pritzker.
Pritzker’s “offense” was endorsing Yingling’s Democratic primary opponent Mary Edly-Allen in the race to replace retiring state Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake).

State will have to show results from $123 million in anti-violence grants

Published by admin on Sat, 05/28/2022 - 9:36am

The long Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and is perhaps best known in Chicago as the beginning of its long, hot season of gun violence. The morning-after news coverage typically notes that the holiday “was the most violent weekend of the year so far,” or some such thing.
You’ve probably seen the polling which shows crime isn’t the super-hot political issue it’s often portrayed to be. But don’t kid yourself. It’s still high enough on voters’ lists to make a difference, usually coming in second place behind economic issues.

Census Bureau owes Illinois some answers

Published by admin on Sun, 05/22/2022 - 1:26pm

Illinois peaked at 27 US House seats after the 1910 Census and subsequent reapportionment. That lasted until the 1940 Census, when Illinois dropped to 26 seats in Congress. We’ve been steadily losing ground ever since.
It’s not that we lost population, it’s that other states in the West and the South grew much faster. California had just 11 congressional districts as a result of the 1910 Census. It now has 53.

Poll: GOP candidates in a tight race

Published by admin on Fri, 05/13/2022 - 5:20pm

Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin has spent tens of millions of billionaire Ken Griffin’s dollars introducing himself to Republican primary voters.
Yet, a recent poll taken for WGN TV by Emerson College Polling shows he’s leading Sen. Darren Bailey by just 4 percentage points, 24-20, with 19 percent split between the other four candidates and undecideds “leading” with 37 percent.