VP Kamala Harris Visits Chicago In Final Push For Pritzker, Democrats

CHICAGO — With Election Day less than 48 hours away, Vice President Kamala Harris followed up President Joe Biden’s visit to Chicago with one of her own on Sunday, hoping to give her fellow Democrats one final boost.

Harris called Tuesday’s mid-term election a fight for democracy in visits to the city’s South Side, where she appeared with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Democrats. Her visit coincided with a rally at Daley Plaza downtown by Republican Darren Bailey, who, according to most polls, has a lot of ground to make up to catch Pritzker in the race for governor.

Bailey appeared with Mundelein attorney Kathy Salvi at the rally as Salvi is trying to pull a political upset of her own in her run for a Senate seat against incumbent Tammy Duckworth. Harris appeared alongside Duckworth at an event sponsored by the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Fund and told a small audience at an event that democracy is at risk should Republicans win.

“When democracy is intact, it’s extremely strong in what it does to uplift the people. When it’s intact it protects and defends individual rights. It works in the interest of justice and equality and fairness. It’s very strong in that way,” Harris said. "The duality is that it is incredibly fragile. It will only be as strong as our willingness to fight for it, and that’s why we’re all here today. Because we are prepared to fight for it.”

Bailey, meanwhile, told supporters that if elected, he will restore law and order to Illinois and vowed to send Pritzker packing.

The governor joined Harris at a rally on Chicago’s South Side, where he and Harris made women’s reproductive health rights the main focus. While Pritzker said that Illinois will remain a beacon of hope for women — including those from out of state seeking abortion services – as long as he is in office, Harris cited the efforts of Biden to keep women’s rights at the forefront after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade at the federal level this summer.

Harris repeated a message preached by Biden —who appeared in Joliet on Saturday — that he needs two more senators and that he will not allow a filibuster to get in the way of him passing the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. The bill passed the House last year, but has not found enough support in the Senate.

Harris urged voters to send Duckworth back to Washington with a victory on Tuesday, and pushed voters to help increase the chances of Democrats in other states that could be critical to swinging the Senate.

“If you’ve got friends outside of Illinois, call whomever you need to,” Harris said. “Remind them of what’s at stake.”

The rally on the South Side concluded a busy Sunday for candidates on both sides, who visited churches around Chicago and in the surrounding communities. In appearances, both candidates for governor cited their own agendas – including key talking points on the economy, gun violence, and health care, all of which are expected to be on the minds of voters when they head to their polling places for Tuesday’s election.