On a lawn where he played touch football as a child, former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris on Sunday kicked off a campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, promising hometown supporters that his third try for the job will finally end in victory.
Thirty childhood friends and family members gathered for the morning announcement in front of the town library, where Burris acknowledged his past losses but urged friends not to be distracted by them.
“You’ve heard a lot about how many times I’ve run for office and how many races I’ve lost,” Burris said, noting that he has won and held statewide office through much of the last two decades. “But you have chosen to elect me eight times, including primary and general elections.”
Burris, 63, pledged to fight for more funding for public schools and for a third airport in the south suburbs, and said he thinks people will take his promises seriously because of his experience in office.
His wins put Burris in the state comptroller’s office for three consecutive terms in the 1980s, followed by one term as state attorney general. He was the first African-American elected to statewide office.
Since then, Burris has suffered a string of defeats, including failed bids in the 1994 and 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primaries and the 1995 race for mayor of Chicago.
But Burris finished a strong second in the four-way gubernatorial primary in 1998, and his base of support among African-Americans may be even more significant in a race likely to feature half-dozen candidates.
Later in the day, Burris announced his candidacy on the porch of his South Side Chicago home, where about 250 supporters crowded underneath tents in his yard under a gray sky and steady rain.
His campaign co-chairmen, U.S. Rep Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and U.S. Rep Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) cheered Burris.State Sens. Barack Obama (the first name as published has been corrected in this text), Donne Trotter and Ricky Hendon, and state Rep. Calvin Giles–all Democrats from Chicago–also attended.
Burris emphasized his gun-control message for the Chicago audience, likening local gang members to terrorists and stressing education for juvenile offenders as the key to lasting change in the war on crime.
“Last week, while the nation stopped out of respect for the innocent victims who lost their lives at the hands of terrorists, the gangbangers didn’t,” he said.
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“These terrorists live in our neighborhoods. They have no respect for anyone, whether it’s an infant who is felled by an errant bullet or one of our precious seniors. We must create an environment that values life.”
Burris said he expects to have broad appeal to voters all over the state, but friends and bystanders are trying to figure out if he’s right.
One local county party chairman came to Centralia to wish Burris well but said not to count him among the supporters yet.
“We have so many candidates, and he’s definitely someone to be reckoned with,” said Jerry Sinclair, Marion County Democratic Party chairman.
“But whether he’s the person we can take and win the governorship back with, I don’t know. We’ll have a better idea when we get a little closer [to the primary], and we see who the Republicans are.”
One formidable opponent will be Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan, who is among three Republicans seeking the nomination for governor.
“Roland is the only one running who has ever beaten Jim Ryan before,” said Sinclair. Burris defeated Ryan for attorney general in 1990.
Other Democrats who have announced their candidacies or are considering a bid for governor include former comptroller and state school superintendent Michael Bakalis, U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich of Chicago, state Rep. Louis Lang of Skokie, former treasurer Patrick Quinn and former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas.
During the campaign, Burris said, he will detail plans to increase the state’s share of public school funding to at least 51 percent of total costs. He said he thinks that eventually can be achieved by continuing to devote new growth in state revenues to education.
Burris also promised to push for construction of a new airport in the south suburbs and to protect O’Hare International Airport, a proposition he said “doesn’t necessarily mean expansion.”
Burris said he has not made up his mind where new runways should be built at O’Hare, a contentious issue that pits suburban interests against those of the city of Chicago.