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March 20, Vote for Pro-Worker Candidates
The Primary elections on March 20 are intra-party elections concerning who will carry the party’s label in the General Election.
We mailed questionnaires to candidates in both parties. Almost every Democrat returned a questionnaire and only 4 Republican candidates sought SEIU Local 73’s endorsement. SEIU Local 73 Political Engagement Committee members conducted political candidate interviews in December 2017. Members of the committee spent three months evaluating bills for the general assembly voting records, establishing the voting records by which we evaluated our elected representatives, and writing the questionnaire. If you are interested in joining the Political Engagement Committee sign up here.
Click to review SEIU Local 73’s Endorsed Candidates of the Illinois’ Primary Elections
The races discussed here are the safe Democratic seats mainly within Cook County. On the South Side and South Suburbs we have two races for Cook County Commissioners who fought to protect SEIU members and the services you provide. Commissioners Deborah Sims and Stanley Moore are being challenged by the business community for their support of the taxes which support Cook County jobs. It’s important that we show loyalty in return by knocking on doors for their reelection.
Deborah Sims, County Board Commissioner, 5th District
On the North Side, Democratic State Senator who abandoned us on minimum wage and pensions, Ira Silverstein, has to go. There are 2 Democratic Cook County Commissioners in contested races with 10% voting records with SEIU. John Fritchey on the Northside and Richard Boykin on the West Side. Enough is enough. 10% is not enough support. It’s time to show them we are angry.
Commissioner Boykin’s record on unions is terrible. He’s the guy who was prompting the repeal of the Sweetened Beverage Tax, lying to the public that the repeal would not cause layoffs and then attacking your collective bargaining agreements as too generous and over-burdensome for taxpayers. Commissioner Boykin questioned the amount Cook County employees pay for health insurance and encouraged the County to make us pay more. There is no shortage to Commissioner Boykin’s attacks on public employees during his term in office.
Brandon Johnson is a husband and father who lives in Austin, taught public school, and most recently was an organizer for the Chicago Teachers’s Union. Brandon Johnson will serve the people of the 1st District and the people of Cook County far better than Commissioner Boykin. Brandon Johnson is our candidate.
These elections are March 20th. That’s a little over a month to re-elect our friends and stop the $1 mllion a day people from taking over the rest of our government.
We need to work together for the Primary elections!
We will be canvassing door to door in the Primary elections. The endorsed candidates share our values of dignity and respect on the job, fair wages, affordable healthcare, and retirement security. Let’s do our work in the primaries to protect our flanks and then work this Summer and Fall to give Bruce Rauner the best and biggest layoff notice he will ever see.