CONTACT:
Gwen Pepin
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Key point: “We as the Democratic Party of Illinois should be defending Democratic values in every single election in nonpartisan and partisan elections alike, because all of these local offices have jurisdiction over super critical controls and we think our party has the best platform for governance,” Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Ben Hardin said.
Capitol News Illinois: Partisan politics infiltrating non-partisan local Illinois elections
By: Ben Szalinski and Bridgette Fox
- The 2025 local elections are the second time that Illinois Democrats are getting involved in nonpartisan races. After recruiting more than 1,000 prospective candidates last year, the state party is supporting 270 candidates for a variety of local offices in all areas of the state.
- “This is how the party operates now,” Hardin said. “We are not going back to closing up shop after an even-year midterm or presidential election, lying dormant for 18 months and then coming alive again for the next even-year general election.”
- “These local offices, if we allow them to be uncontested, especially with the Trump administration in office, you know with our lack of control of the wheels of power in D.C., we could allow our state to start slipping to the right at the local level,” Hardin said.
