‘Elections are now fought in the suburbs’: Illinois delegates hopeful for another historic win in November

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240820/news/illinois-delegates-hopeful-for-another-historic-win-in-november/ — DuPage County Board Chairwoman Deborah Conroy had one bit of advice for fellow delegates when they were at the Democratic National Convention.

“Make sure you have good shoes on Nov. 5 because there will be glass everywhere,” Conroy said, referencing the glass ceiling she and other Democrats are hopeful will shatter with the election of the country’s first female president of color.

Conroy spoke about the glass ceilings Democrats already have shattered in suburban areas that, until a few years ago, were traditional Republican strongholds.

“It is easy to forget this county, DuPage, was once one of the reddest counties in America not long ago,” Conroy said at the Illinois delegate breakfast before the convention.

She noted DuPage was where “Republican presidents raised millions of dollars, produced a U.S. Speaker of the House” and led both chambers in Springfield.

“But 12 years ago, that tide began to turn,” said Conroy, who in 2012 became the first Democrat to win an Illinois House seat in a district entirely in DuPage.

In 2022, Conroy again made history as the first female elected to head the DuPage County Board and the first Democrat to hold that title in several decades. That same year, Democrats solidified a 12-6 majority on the county board. In 2018, Republicans held all but one seat on the county board.

Conroy said Democratic women also now make up an overwhelming majority of state representatives and senators representing DuPage in Springfield.

“Things have changed so much,” Conroy said. “Fifteen, 20 years ago, downstate was blue and DuPage was all red. … Now it’s very different.”

Similar stories played out in neighboring Kane and Lake counties as suburban demographics shifted.

Kane and Lake counties have seen a similar changeover in recent years. Lake County Democrats, who enjoy a 14-5 majority on the county board, took control of the county board for the first time in the county’s 179-year history in 2018.

In Kane County, Democrats picked up seats on the county board in the early 2000s and became solidly blue in 2018, when Gov. JB Pritzker carried the county. Democrats now hold the majority on the county board, which is led by Corinne Pierog, a Batavia Democrat.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Kane County Democratic Chairman Mark Guethle, who also heads the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association.

How does this play out in November?

“From a campaign perspective, elections are now fought in the suburbs, which 20 years ago people took for granted being Republican,” said Melissa Mouritsen, a political science professor at the College of DuPage.

Conroy, who was a delegate for Kamala Harris in 2020, is confident the blue wave will carry Harris to the presidency and break another glass ceiling.

“This ticket is not just historic for our nation, it is deeply personal to me,” Conroy said. “As someone who has shattered glass ceilings throughout my career, it’s time we shattered this one and can finally say what has been long overdue … Madam President.”