DuPage delivers overwhelming victories for the environment in November election

By Linda Sullivan

DuPage voters overwhelmingly voted in November for candidates committed to protecting our environment, our forest preserves, our rights, and our democracy.

River Prairie Group volunteers played an important role in this victory with endorsements, canvasses, and social media. Many members were inspired to write postcards, phonebank, or text bank for environmental candidates.

Starting in April, River Prairie Group’s Political Committee held endorsement interviews with candidates ranging from Congressional to DuPage Forest Preserve commissioners. Some 24 reports were written, 24 votes taken by the RPG Executive Committee, and many presentations to the Illinois Sierra Club Chapter Political Committee. 

Nearly 70 RPG members and 16 candidates participated in RPG’s “Meet the Candidates Night.”  Our members canvassed for Congressional, General Assembly, and Forest Preserve District of DuPage County every weekend, sometimes twice in one weekend, from early September through the weekend before the election.

Partly as a result of all this effort, 22 River Prairie Group endorsements resulted in 21 victories. The importance for the environment and the health of the planet of these victories cannot be overstated. The River Prairie Group helped elect General Assembly incumbents who had stood firm with Sierra Club insisting on a date certain for coal plant closings and environmental justice in Illinois’s landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA); RPG helped elect two newcomers to the General Assembly who we are sure will be strong allies of the Sierra Club; RPG worked hard to reelect five members of the Forest Preserve Commission, including its president, who together have spent the last four years getting grants to put solar on Forest Preserve buildings and making sure that Willowbrook Wildlife Center’s renovation would be net-zero energy; RPG helped reelect five members of Congress who are leaders in the fight against climate change. 

It is worth noting that DuPage County voters provided climate hero Sean Casten’s margin of victory in Illinois’s hard-fought 6th Congressional District. Whereas the three Chicago wards in the new 6th District voted for Keith Pekau 51% to 49%, DuPage County voters cast their ballots for Casten 58.4% to 41.6%, giving him an overall unofficial win of 54.5% to 45.5%. 

THANK YOU if you voted for Sierra Club endorsed candidates! THANK YOU if you logged on for Meet the Candidates Night. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU if you spent your weekend and knocked doors, wrote postcards, or text-banked for candidates who protect the planet.

We can’t keep the planet safe without people like you electing leaders who share our environmental commitment. Here is a list of our endorsements:

Statewide      

Governor:                   JB Pritzker (won)

Attorney General:       Kwame Raoul (won)

Treasurer:                   Mike Frerichs (won)

Secretary of State:      Alexi Giannoulias (won)

Workers’ Rights          Vote Yes (passed)

 

Congress

Senate:                        Tammy Duckworth (won)

Representatives:         Delia Ramirez – IL03 (won)

                                    Sean Casten – IL06 (won)

                                    Raja Krishnamoorthi – IL08 (won)

                                    Bill Foster – IL11 (won)

                                    Lauren Underwood – IL14 (won)

Illinois

Senate:                        Laura Ellman – 21 (won)

                                    Suzy Glowiak Hilton – 23 (won)

                                    Lauren Nowak – 24 (lost)

                                    Karina Villa – 25 (won)

 

House:                         Janet Yang Rohr – 41 (won)

                                    Terra Costa Howard – 42 (won)

                                    Jenn Ladisch Douglass – 45 (won)

                                    Diane Blair-Sherlock – 46 (won)

                                    Maura Hirschauer – 49 (won)

                                    Anne Stava Murray – 81 (won)

                                    Stephanie Kifowit – 84 (won)

                                    Dagmara Avelar – 85 (won)

 

Forest Preserve District of DuPage

President:                    Daniel Hebreard – President (won)

                                    Marsha Murphy – 1 (won)

                                    Tina Tyson Dunne – 2 (won)

                                    Jeff Gahris – 4 (won)

                                    Barbara O’Meara – 5 (won)