Democrats already hold a great deal of political power in Illinois.
In addition to every constitutional office — from the governor to the comptroller — being occupied by a Democrat from Chicago, the legislative body in Springfield is overwhelmingly blue.
All 118 state House seats are up for grabs this year. Currently, Democrats hold 78 — or two-thirds — of them, well past the 60% majority needed to pass a bill out of the chamber.
But even with that comfortable margin, the Democratic Party of Illinois wants more.
Lisa Hernandez, chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, said they have spent the past few months knocking on doors, hosting public town halls and running phone banking events in an attempt to get out in front of voters across the state.
“The momentum, the excitement, the kind of feedback I’m getting, I can’t help but tell you that it looks good in Illinois,” Hernandez said.
The Cicero Democrat has served in the Illinois House as a state representative since 2007. She believes state Republicans have, over the years, fallen out of touch with voters.
“The Republican view has been consistent on just dividing,” Hernandez. “The hatred that has been spread, it has not stopped … Illinois is not going to tolerate that.”
Hernandez said Democrats are eyeing six Republican-held House seats across the state in the hopes of flipping them this November. Last week, House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, tweeted, “In 2022, we voted blue. In 2024, we want more.”
“We are about keeping and preserving our democratic values,” Hernandez said. “The fight is there when it comes to women’s rights, working families’ [rights].”
One of the six seats Democrats hope to flip is the 114th District, which covers East St. Louis and some of the rural areas surrounding it. The district is currently held by Rep. Kevin Schmidt, R-Millstadt. His challenger, Democrat LaToya Greenwood, previously held that seat for six years.
She lost to Schmidt in 2022 by more than 2,000 votes.
“I remember just trying to understand, actually, what happened that next day,” Greenwood said. “Where did I go wrong?”
Greenwood said she was caught off guard because the area had been occupied by a Democrat for many years. A couple of weeks before the 2022 election, the East St. Louis Branch NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against the state, blocking the newly drawn legislative maps from taking effect. They argued East St. Louis’ Black population would be split up into multiple districts, diluting their vote. A three-judge federal panel rejected that argument three months later.
East St. Louis’ population is 95% Black. Greenwood, who is Black and from East St. Louis, said Schmidt just doesn’t understand the community.
“He hasn’t voted for a budget that would bring resources to my community or the Metro East area,” Greenwood said. “I believe in representing the least of those amongst us — and by representing the least of those amongst us, we lift up all of us in the process.”
Schmidt is a white chiropractor from Millstadt, a village of about 4,000 people 13 miles south of East St. Louis. He said he’s not worried about losing to Greenwood.
“She was in office, I believe, for three terms, and never lifted a finger as far as listening to constituents in the entire district,” Schmidt said.
But he has his work cut out for him to get reelected. Greenwood has enjoyed a massive fundraising advantage over Schmidt.
This is a disadvantage Minority Leader of the House Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said is true for most Republicans in down-ballot races across Illinois. This is because some of their big donors, like hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, have left the state.
“We’re not going to get a late surprise here in October from a million-dollar donor,” McCombie said.
Her party faces an uphill battle in the quest to get more seats. Part of that is because, she argues, the legislative maps drawn in 2022 are gerrymandered to the Democrats’ favor.
So while the Democrats are targeting six incumbent Republicans for defeat next month to expand their supermajority even more, the Illinois GOP is taking the long view, trying to inch its way back to power.
“We’re not going to say we’re going to become the majority party,” McCombie said. “We’re going to do this one cycle at a time, bit by bit, and get us closer to the map in the 10-year time.”
Mawa Iqbal covers Illinois state government and politics for WBEZ.
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