Rep. Robin Kelly, the Democrat whose sprawling district stretches from Chicago’s South Side to rural downstate Illinois, spent part of Friday and Saturday in Nebraska, in and around Omaha where control of the White House and House of Representatives may be decided next month.
Kelly is one of the corps of elected Illinois Democrats who have been on the road these past months stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz and Democrats running for Congress. Boosting Democratic turnout lifts all Democrats on the ballot.
These Illinois Democrats are available because our state is deep blue, backing Democratic presidential nominees since 1992 and none of them have any consequential re-election battles.
Over the weekend, Kelly was campaigning in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District for the Harris-Walz ticket and Democratic House hopeful Tony Vargas. This political turf is nicknamed the “blue dot” because it has lots of Democrats in what is otherwise a very Republican red state.
When it comes to electoral votes, Nebraska allocates electoral votes on a per-district basis — it is not winner-take-all, like most states. In the tight race between Harris and former President Donald Trump, this single electoral vote from the blue-dot district could be crucial.
Democrats can win control of the House by picking up just four seats. As a vice chair of the House Democratic political operation’s “red to blue” project, Kelly told me Saturday she was also in Omaha because “I’m helping to flip the seat.” Among other things, Kelly spoke at a rally along with Vargas and Maya Harris, Kamala Harris’ sister.
Last Sunday Kelly was in Milwaukee, in presidential battleground Wisconsin with 10 electoral votes, at present a toss-up between Harris and Trump. She was campaigning with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is in a tough re-election battle. Kelly’s been in Petersburg, Virginia, to canvass with Rep. Jennifer McClellan and did a variety of events in Miami with local Florida Black leaders, all aimed at getting out the Black vote.
The campaign will likely dispatch her to another state in the days ahead. “Sometimes I am preaching to the choir,” Kelly said of her efforts to get out the vote, and “sometimes the choir needs practice.”
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., campaigning in Nebraska, where the Harris-Walz campaign can pick up an electoral vote in one congressional district. With Kelly (orange T-shirt) are (from left) Rep. Sharice Davis, D-Kansas; Maya Harris (sister of presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris); and Tony Vargas, a candidate for Congress in Nebraska.
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Kam Buckner on turning out the Black male vote
State Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat, met Harris 15 years ago in San Francisco through mutual friends when he was working for Mitch Landrieu, then the mayor of New Orleans. He was an early Harris backer when she ran for president in 2020. After President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, her team called, asking Buckner if he wanted to be a surrogate.
“I said absolutely,” Buckner told me when we talked last Wednesday at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, where he is a fellow this quarter. Buckner said he has been “traveling the country, doing everything from canvassing, talking to folks who are canvassing, talking to folks who are phone banking, doing a lot of churches on Sundays. So I was in Philadelphia this past Sunday, doing churches in both north and south Philly, and I’ll be in North Carolina and Charlotte this Sunday, doing churches there as well.” Swing-state North Carolina has 16 electoral votes.
Buckner’s also been deployed to the key swing state of Michigan — hitting Grand Rapids, Detroit, Flint and South Haven. He’s also campaigned in Arizona and in Broward and Dade counties in south Florida.
Getting out the Black vote is key to a Harris victory. Buckner said he spends “a lot of time doing the kind of our souls-to-the-poll stuff, a lot of the faith-based stuff. But also, you know, as a Black male and a Black male elected [official] a lot of my energy has been focusing on Black men who are going to be a huge part of whatever happens in this election.”
He added, “at the end of the day, Black men are going to go overwhelmingly for the vice president. …There are a lot of folks that I’ve talked to in places like Grand Rapids and Flint and Detroit who need to believe again in the electoral process. They’re not anti-Kamala Harris, they’re not pro-Donald Trump, they’re anti-politics. And that has to be addressed.”
Buckner briefly saw Harris on Oct. 18, while backstage at a Grand Rapids rally. She gave him a hug, a high five and asked him, he recalled, “how’s it going out there.” He told her: “We’re getting the message out. We’re pushing.”
Susana Mendoza and 23 years of door-knocking
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Buckner were on the same Grand Rapids swing, along with state Rep. Bob Morgan of Highland Park and state Sen. Natalie Toro from Chicago.
Besides Michigan, with 15 electoral votes, Mendoza’s surrogate travels have also taken her to Las Vegas in battleground Nevada, with six electoral votes.
On Saturday, she rallied the troops in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral votes, the biggest swing state prize.
Mendoza said sending elected officials from other states to battlegrounds, where they are not well-known, boosts volunteers.
“They may not know who we are, but remember, anytime you get a statewide elected official from any state coming to a volunteer event, the volunteers are like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool. And then also, when Hispanic volunteers see me, or women see me and I give a good speech, they get fired up.”
When Mendoza knocks, she brings her 23 years of campaign experience to the door. “I know how to speak to voters. I know, more importantly, how to listen to voters, how to hear their concerns, and then listen to what they have to say, especially these undecideds [and] hopefully make a good case to them as to why I think that our candidate is the one who will best represent them and best fight for the things that matter to them.”
Duckworth looking for veterans, female and AANHPI votes
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Harris-Walz campaign co-chair, has been traveling extensively for the ticket and Senate candidates using her unique background: Asian American, wounded Iraq War vet, mother through IVF, to target voting groups, including veterans, Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders and women — with reproductive rights a major focus.
This month, Duckworth has been in Janesville, Madison and Whitewater in Wisconsin, with Baldwin. She talked to groups, did phone banking and a rally at various stops in swing state Georgia, with 16 electoral votes. She made stops in Ohio, with 17 electoral votes, helping Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is in a close race.
On Tuesday, she’s heading to Pennsylvania to campaign for the ticket and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. who is up for re-election. In the final days, she hits battleground Nevada, with six electoral votes and Sen. Jacky Rosen in a fight for another term.
Pritzker, other Illinois surrogates
Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday was in Wisconsin doing canvass launches in Kenosha and Waukesha. Democratic Party of Illinois chair Lisa Hernandez and more than 100 volunteers canvassed in Kenosha on Sunday, joining Pritzker and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Arizona and New Hampshire are among Pritzker’s other stops. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has stumped in Michigan and Minnesota. At Las Vegas and Detroit events, Mayor Brandon Johnson aimed to lift Black male turnout.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has traveled to Detroit, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Kenosha, Tampa and Morrisville, N.C. for more than 50 canvass, get-out-the-vote and phone banking events. Many of these events have targeted AANHPI groups.
Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia focused on turning out the Mexican American vote at events in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Detroit. Rep. Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, has been focusing on voters with Eastern European roots, with St. Joseph, Michigan, among his stops.
The Illinois Harris-Walz campaign is led by Valerie Alexander, with Lindsay Mueller, the state director; David Seman, the senior advisor; and Charles Kyle, the organizing director.