My Choices for Democratic Primary 2022
Category: Local politics
Posted on June 27, 2022 by Gary
Because nobody asked. Keep in mind these are my opinions only, and I don't claim to speak for anyone else. There's a fair number of races with only one Democratic candidate (such as my own for Precinct Committeemortal in York Township Precinct 87, a job no one else seems to want) which I won't mention. (But didn't I just mention them? Oh well.)
You may not even know that Governor Jay Pritzker has a primary challenger, one Beverly Miles. In general, I do think we need more non-billionaires in government, but it's not clear to me why Ms. Miles is running or what she wants to accomplish, and she doesn't seem like a particularly strong campaigner considering how few people even know who she is. Her web site touts her military experience, which I really don't care about, but lists few or no specific policies that she wants to implement. I'm officially endorsing Pritzker, but feel free to vote for Miles if you don't like him and want a protest vote, because this race is a pretty foregone conclusion anyhow.
The Secretary of State race is much more competitive this year, with long-time incumbent Jesse White not running again. My biggest recommendation is don't vote for Giannoulias. People outside the Democratic bubble don't much trust him, and based on how much special interest money he rakes in, I can't say it's entirely for bad reasons. He's also not a good choice even if you just want any Democrat in this office, considering that he's already lost a statewide election to Mark Kirk in 2010. I don't have any major preference as far as the other three candidates but will probably vote for Anna Valencia as she seems to be the strongest challenger.
For Congress, many of us are in new districts for the new decade. The new District 3 is a latino-heavy area, and the best candidate is State Rep Delia Ramirez who is running a grass-roots people-powered campaign. For the new District 6, which includes my precinct, and in which two incumbents are fighting it out, the clear better choice is Marie Newman. Newman does not take corporate PAC money and supports Medicare for All which would provide full health coverage for everybody in the country for less than we're currently paying. Super-PACs backing her opponent have been sending out lots of mailers over trumped-up scandals. Think about how much that costs, and what they'd be expecting in return. For District 8, which used to be my district but isn't anymore, I support challenger Junaid Ahmed over the incumbent; Junaid is better on pretty much every issue.
One office you might not be familiar with is that of State Central Committeeman and Committeewoman. This is an often overlooked position, but an important one because the State Central Committee oversees the operations of the state party and elects the state party chair. Incumbent Patrick Watson has put in a lot of work and deserves to continue.
For DuPage County Board, District 2, which like every other district this year has three openings, I recommend Yeena Yoo, Paula Garcia, and Maryann Vasquez. The fourth candidate, Liz Chaplin, has been on the board longer than any other Democrat. I at one time admired Chaplin's work in fighting against Republican corruption on that board. That changed during a local party election in which Chaplin, as party vice-chair (a position that I myself had nominated her for), basically stacked the deck for her preferred candidate. After that, I can't in good faith recommend her for any position of public trust.
Last but not least, there's one competitive judge primary on the ballot in my area. I know relatively little about what makes a good judge, but a friend who is an immigration lawyer says that James Murphy is the better candidate in the Appellate Court race.
You may not even know that Governor Jay Pritzker has a primary challenger, one Beverly Miles. In general, I do think we need more non-billionaires in government, but it's not clear to me why Ms. Miles is running or what she wants to accomplish, and she doesn't seem like a particularly strong campaigner considering how few people even know who she is. Her web site touts her military experience, which I really don't care about, but lists few or no specific policies that she wants to implement. I'm officially endorsing Pritzker, but feel free to vote for Miles if you don't like him and want a protest vote, because this race is a pretty foregone conclusion anyhow.
The Secretary of State race is much more competitive this year, with long-time incumbent Jesse White not running again. My biggest recommendation is don't vote for Giannoulias. People outside the Democratic bubble don't much trust him, and based on how much special interest money he rakes in, I can't say it's entirely for bad reasons. He's also not a good choice even if you just want any Democrat in this office, considering that he's already lost a statewide election to Mark Kirk in 2010. I don't have any major preference as far as the other three candidates but will probably vote for Anna Valencia as she seems to be the strongest challenger.
For Congress, many of us are in new districts for the new decade. The new District 3 is a latino-heavy area, and the best candidate is State Rep Delia Ramirez who is running a grass-roots people-powered campaign. For the new District 6, which includes my precinct, and in which two incumbents are fighting it out, the clear better choice is Marie Newman. Newman does not take corporate PAC money and supports Medicare for All which would provide full health coverage for everybody in the country for less than we're currently paying. Super-PACs backing her opponent have been sending out lots of mailers over trumped-up scandals. Think about how much that costs, and what they'd be expecting in return. For District 8, which used to be my district but isn't anymore, I support challenger Junaid Ahmed over the incumbent; Junaid is better on pretty much every issue.
One office you might not be familiar with is that of State Central Committeeman and Committeewoman. This is an often overlooked position, but an important one because the State Central Committee oversees the operations of the state party and elects the state party chair. Incumbent Patrick Watson has put in a lot of work and deserves to continue.
For DuPage County Board, District 2, which like every other district this year has three openings, I recommend Yeena Yoo, Paula Garcia, and Maryann Vasquez. The fourth candidate, Liz Chaplin, has been on the board longer than any other Democrat. I at one time admired Chaplin's work in fighting against Republican corruption on that board. That changed during a local party election in which Chaplin, as party vice-chair (a position that I myself had nominated her for), basically stacked the deck for her preferred candidate. After that, I can't in good faith recommend her for any position of public trust.
Last but not least, there's one competitive judge primary on the ballot in my area. I know relatively little about what makes a good judge, but a friend who is an immigration lawyer says that James Murphy is the better candidate in the Appellate Court race.
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