Illinois Democrats rally at state fair ahead of Democratic National Convention in Chicago

SPRINGFIELD — Before the convention comes the corn dogs and carnival rides.

In a prelude to the party’s national convention next week in Chicago, Democrats rallied in Springfield at the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday, seeking to build enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign against Republican former President Donald Trump.

Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democrats who hold every statewide office in deeply Democratic Illinois praised the “spirit” of Harris’ nascent White House bid and mocked what they called an “embarrassing” situation for the Republican Party in the state and beyond.

“Can you feel the electricity that’s running through the country for our next president, Kamala Harris?” Pritzker said at a luncheon for Illinois Democratic Party chairs. “We’re just days away from hosting delegates and party leaders from across the country for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and we’re 83 days away from hearing the two words this country has waited to hear for 248 years: Madam President.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the pre-convention energy “is something we couldn’t have imagined three and a half weeks ago.”

“It’s a sea change in terms of energy, unity and enthusiasm,” Raoul told the Sun-Times before joining other state party leaders for an afternoon rally at the state fairgrounds. “You never hear about a pre-convention surge. Normally it’s a post-convention surge. So we have a surge before the surge, and it’s reflected in the battleground states.”

Mitchell Armentrout/The Sun-Times

That could translate into gains for Democrats at the state level in the House and Senate, “districts that may not have been in play but could now be because of the energy on this side and the confusion on the other side,” Raoul said.

Pritzker said that “Illinois Republicans are attacking the environment and voting against education and jobs, even in the rural areas they represent. It’s embarrassing for them. No wonder the Illinois Republican Party is a super-minority party.”

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, compared Harris’ campaign to former President Barack Obama’s first campaign in 2008.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. Young voters and women are so excited about the possibility of electing a woman president. There are so many requirements for Harris and (her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim) Walz to meet. It’s easy to get excited about this,” Welch said.

During their 22-minute rally at the fairgrounds, the state’s top Democrats leaned heavily on internet jokes that have circulated in online Democratic circles in support of Harris and Walz.

“I have all kinds of hashtags in my head about Tim Walz. How about #DadJokes?” Pritzker said to laughter at the fairgrounds. “When I come home and tell dad jokes, I groan. When Tim Walz stands up in front of a crowd and tells a dad joke, people clap. I’m very proud that we’re going to have someone in the vice president’s office who will stand up for us dads.”

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza followed suit in meme-ifying the race, calling Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, “weird and creepy.”

“We cannot allow Donald Trump or JD Vance anywhere near the White House, much less our children, couches or cats,” he said before moving on to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices.

“I think Donald Trump has had access to too many uteruses in his life and he shouldn’t have access to one more,” Mendoza said.

Mitchell Armentrout/The Sun-Times

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said “the spirit that we feel today is attributable to two people, certainly Kamala Harris … and one other person: Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden made a selfless decision that you would never imagine Donald Trump would make: He put his party and his country ahead of everything and his personal ambition,” Durbin said.

Pritzker was later asked about Trump calling him “a real loser” during the former president’s interview with billionaire Elon Musk earlier this week on social media platform X.

“Donald Trump was a loser in 2020. He was a loser in 2022 when he tried to support a bunch of people for public office. He’s going to lose again in 2024. If I recall correctly, I won by 16 points in my first election, by 12 and a half points in my second election… We know who the winners are, and Donald Trump is the loser,” Pritzker said.

Republicans will rally at the state fair on Thursday.