Kane County Dems Strategize with New State Party Chair

St. Charles, Illinois - It was an historic day for the Kane County Democrats as the new Chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois (DPI) recently met with party officials in St Charles ahead of the midterm elections on Tuesday, November 8th. The visit by DPI Chairperson Lisa Hernandez is believed to be the first visit by a party chairperson in an estimated twenty years.

Kane County had been solidly Republican for many years, however local Democrats have been working for more than two decades and have made great strides in recent years and currently not only control the county board, but also the county board Chair position and five out of eight county-wide offices. Furthermore, there appears to be strong support for the Kane County Democrats in the upcoming election as it is now one out of only five blue counties in Illinois.

Hernandez met with Kane County Chair Mark Guethle and other elected officials and candidates to get a firsthand update about the upcoming election and to offer support from the state organization.

The visit also included meeting with candidates in contested elections for Congressional, State Senate, the House, Judicial and the County Board elections. Hernandez listened earnestly to every candidate’s campaign effort and strategy.

She then emphasized one of her core priorities which is to enhance DPI presence across all corners of the State. Currently, DPI’s Coordinated Campaign is implemented through regional directors across the State of Illinois to establish an effective communication chain between the regions and the State leadership.

In an effort to grow Democratic Party presence and facilitate communication, Hernandez and Guethle discussed some remaining areas of opportunities and growth within Kane County and also reviewed the steps needed towards building a newer and stronger Democratic Party presence in the other collar counties that have not yet enjoyed a similar level of growth.

Those in attendance at the meeting included the following:

DPI Regional Organizing Director Litcy Kurisinkal, and Field Organizer Daniel Rude

Kane County Democrats Campaign Manager Evan Maxwell and representatives from Congressman Bill Foster of the 11th District.

Appellate Court candidate: Chris Kennedy.

State Representative candidates: Suzanne Ness, Anna Moeller, Matt Hanson, and Linda Robertson.

Kane County Treasurer candidate: Jeff Pripusich.

County Board Member candidates: Ted Penesis, Chris Kious, Cherryl Strathmann, Mavis Bates, Dale Berman, Courtney Boe, Bill Tarver, and Steve Bruesewitz.

Also in attendance were Kane County Board Chair and First Vice-chair of the Kane County Democrats, Corinne Pierog, as well as Kane County Democrats’ treasurer, Mike Lowery and their parliamentarian, Howard Katz.

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