Takeaways from the election
Dear friend,
It's over. Feels good to say.
Actually, it's not totally over — there are hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots still to be counted here in Cook County. But by and large, the story of this election has been written. I wanted to share a few reflections on what we saw.
A new president
Four years of fear-mongering, division, hatred and contempt are over. I hope that the incoming Biden administration prioritizes the many urgent challenges facing our communities: COVID-19. Staggering unemployment. A climate in crisis. Unaffordable health care and prescriptions. Ballooning student debt. A broken justice system. The issues are many, and they're very serious. I'm sure we will see important victories on many of them, and I bet we'll be disappointed on others. But there is no way to doubt that this administration will be immeasurably better on all of those fronts than the one we're saying goodbye to.
Record youth turnout
More people under 30 voted in this election than ever before. The 53% projected turnout among young people is higher even than the record-breaking 2008 election of Barack Obama. While I'm sad to no longer be counted in "the youth vote" myself, I'm blown away by these numbers. Many of the issues I just mentioned affect our young people more than anyone, and I'm amazed by such a high level of civic participation and activism in the under-30 set.
A mixed bag in IllinoisDemocrats were hoping to win some seats in Illinois this cycle. Instead, it looks like the balance of votes in our Congressional delegation will remain the same, as Lauren Underwood appears to be holding off her challenge from Republican Jim Oberweis in the suburbs. And we may also have the exact same number of Democrats in the Illinois House (74) as we did for the last two years — a couple of races still have votes to be counted, so that number may be as low as 72.
And of course, the Fair Tax referendum failed by a sizable margin statewide. As you all know, I still believe in my bones that we need to be taxing the ultra-wealthy more, so we can lower the burden on everyone else and provide better services to our communities that need them. The good news is that you all, my constituents, seem to agree. As you can see on this map, the referendum got more than 55% of the vote in every part of our district. It was above the citywide average of 71.3% almost everywhere, and polled in the 80s in much of Logan Square and Avondale.
Still, the defeat of the referendum — coupled with the already dire problems from COVID — will mean some serious budget challenges for our state heading into next year. More on that soon.
Anyway, there's a lot more to think about, and my colleagues and I will be poring over these results in the days and weeks to come. But for now, I'm breathing a big sigh of relief, and with the elections behind us, turning my focus fully back to legislative work.
Hope you're doing well. Stay safe, wear a mask, keep your distance.