Illinois pols are more adept and agile than Cirque du Soleil aerialists. They’ve got more up their sleeves than a clique of magicians.
When one says “Illinois pols,” one means Democrats, who control all statewide offices and have a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature. The party also rules in Lake County.
Illinois voters continue to elect Democrats despite numerous scandals among party stalwarts. Such as the sexual harassment complaints against former state Rep. Harry Benton of Plainfield.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who inherited the post from his disgraced predecessor, Michael Madigan, has been dodging and weaving since questions have been raised over his knowledge of sexual harassment allegations from female staffers in Benton’s office. Surely, Welch will survive this hiccup in his leadership.
That’s because the loyal Republican opposition is stagnating in the Land of Lincoln. Party leaders barely cobbled together a statewide slate, while in Lake County they are missing candidates in several races.
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Republicans do have a candidate for secretary of state. Diane Harris of Joliet, a little-known aspirant, is taking on first-term incumbent Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, who has greater name recognition and a campaign war chest reported to be worth $22 million.
Giannoulias announced earlier this month that, in addition to seeking re-election as secretary of state, he’s also running for mayor of Chicago. He sees nothing wrong with double-dipping on the November ballot and then again in the crowded Democratic primary ballot of Feb. 23, 2027.
Voters should. Cook County voters might also query well-known Treasurer Maria Pappas, another expected mayoral candidate, why she is running for re-election to her county post.
The same goes for Congressman Mike Quigley, whose 5th Congressional District snakes from the North Side of Chicago into a handful of southwest Lake County communities. Quigley’s one of the hopefuls in the so-far nine-candidate primary.
The other day, Chicago businessman Willie Wilson joined the field, running for mayor for the fourth time. Incumbent Brandon Johnson has yet to announce his intentions to seek re-election to another four-year term.
Unsure why there is a huge number of primary candidates for a post leading a city where problems and fiscal issues are mounting daily. But there they are. If no primary candidate gets a majority of the vote Feb. 23, the top two finishers in the race will face off in a runoff election April 6, 2027.
After Giannoulias leapt into the mayoral fray, some city media folks anointed him the front-runner. When asked why he was running for two offices, one behind the other, Giannoulias muttered something about not quitting the job you have when applying for a new one.
That makes sense in the private sector. Not so much in the public sphere. Both positions pay around $200,000 a year.
Giannoulias had been running TV spots for his secretary of state candidacy. Now he’s running broadcast ads for his mayoral run.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza could have followed the Giannoulias path. Instead, she decided not to run again for the state post, devoting her time and energy to a mayoral run. Good on her.
Holly Kim of Mundelein was comfortable as Lake County treasurer, but instead sought the Mendoza slot in the March Democrat primary. Kim lost and will probably be succeeded by Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart of Lake Bluff, who has a GOP opponent in David Penaherrer of the Barrington area.
Leap-frogging offices is nothing new in Illinois. Like Gov. JB Pritzker shepherding his one-time running mate, Julia Stratton, to fill the U.S. Senate seat this election season of octogenarian Dick Durbin.
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Democrats have made it a political art. Giannoulias is a prime example. Just four years ago, he was elected the state’s 38th secretary of state, succeeding long-time officeholder Jesse White.
Previously, Giannoulias was elected Illinois treasurer in the 2006 election, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office since 1994. Four years later, he decided to run for the U.S. Senate, winning the Democratic primary, but barely losing the general election to Republican Mark Kirk of Highland Park, the last GOPster to hold an Illinois Senate seat.
So Giannoulias continues his march onward and upward. At the same time, he signals that being mayor of Chicago is more important politically and powerfully than being in charge of the mechanism for Illinois drivers and being Illinois librarian in a U.S. state with the sixth-largest population.
Running for two elected positions isn’t illegal. For Giannoulias, both are attainable.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. [email protected]. X @sellenews