Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. What have the Israelis wrought? What’s with the Whistleblower?
Political Note #238 Betsy Dirksen Londrigan IL CD 13
2020 General Election
Democrats who narrowly flipped Republican seats in 2018 whose district included a state capitol or was adjacent to a state capitol.
Ben McAdams Salt Lake area – Utah’s capitol
Kendra Horn Oklahoma City – Oklahoma’s capitol
Cindy Axne Des Moines – Iowa’s capitol
Abigail Spanbarger Richmond area, but not Richmond itself – Virginia’s capitol
Beverly Dirksen Londrigan https://www.betsydirksenlondrigan.com/was almost another one. llinois’ 13th, includes Springfield, the capitol. Champagne and Urbana, home of the University of Illinois’s flagship campus, too.
She is running again. If elected, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan would represent a district that includes many who work in and believe in government and well as many who work in and believe in education. The Republican President of the United States does not support either government or education. His loyal Members of Congress, including the incumbent from Illinois’ 13th, Rodney Davis, have voted as if they agree with President Trump.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan has no opposition for the Democratic nomination. She lost the 2018 election by 2,058 votes. She could win by virtue of a larger turnout in 2020 alone. There will be a larger turnout. 2020 is a presidential year. Many will turnout to support Donald Trump. More will turn out to vote against him.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan will follow the Democratic game plan. Focus on health care and education. She has a moving story about health care. Ten years ago, her 12 year old son had a tick bite. He developed Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. His condition was so bad he needed a medically induced coma. His condition was so bad he twice received last rites. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan tells those who listen that if she did not have excellent medical insurance, her son might not be alive today.
Is she for Medicare for All? Before Medicare for All was an issue among Democrats, in 2018, she favored expanding access to Medicare. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan wants to be sure that everyone has medical insurance good enough to take care of their children just as she was able to take care of her son. Unlike Rodney Davis, she would not vote to abolish the Affordable Care Act.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan has her story about education, too. It is a woman’s story. She taught school. After graduating from the University of Illinois, with degrees in political science and in rhetoric and composition, she became a teacher. She was unusual in one respect. She became a teacher through Teach for America. She went where they sent her – to Baltimore, Maryland.
She speaks about what it means to teach children from difficult home backgrounds. She supports teachers’ unions. She has a commitment to children.
Her story is a woman’s story. After completing Teach for America’s two-year stint, she got married. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan went where her husband was – back to Springfield, Illinois. She went home to get married and stayed there. Her husband was an attorney. He was the one more likely to be involved in politics. His was a political family.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s mother-in-law had her own political story. She worked in Washington for an Illinois Congressman, returned to Illinois to work on the campaign, and met one of the campaign volunteers. Carol Londrigan stayed in Illinois to marry and raise a family. She rejected an offer to work in the Kennedy White House.
Carol Londrigan’s son Jack was interested in politics. After graduating law school, he was an assistant US Attorney. He worked for the Democratic Party. He worked in the legislature. He joined a law firm. He was a lobbyist, a litigator. He specialized in government issues, but was not running for office.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan was not running for office either. She went to work for the University of Illinois, for the new University of Illinois Springfield campus that replaced Sangamon State. She worked for the alumni office developing a commitment from the Sangamon graduates. Development is the right word. She was raising money. Not bad training for someone who would turned to politics.
Not right away, though. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s story is a woman’s story. She had children. She left her job. Worked part-time from home. Used her skills as a fund raiser. For two years, she raised money for Dick Durbin, the Ilinois Senator not named Barack Obama. When she went back to work away from home, her son’s illness forced her to make the job part-time. Her work was quintessentially Illinoisian. She was raising money for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
Unlike many of the new 2018 candidates, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan did not attribute her interest in elective office to the election of Donald Trump. She focused on health insurance, on protecting people with preexisting conditions. She put her family political connections together with her fund-raising experience. She won a competitive primary and just missed being elected.
This is a woman’s story. A normal woman’s story. It is a story about using every resource toward a goal. In addition to containing the state capitol, a campus of the state university, and the main campus of the state university, the district stops just outside of another state university town – the town of Normal and the University of Illinois at Normal. Just outside of Normal is a pretty good descriptor her district and of running for Congress.
It is becoming normal for a woman to be elected to Congress – at least for a Democratic woman to be elected. There are 127 woman in Congress now, 104 of them are Democrats. Forty-four percent of the Democrats in Congress are women – pretty close to what would be a normal distribution. Just short of Normal.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan uses every ounce of her resources toward getting elected. Like a good fund raiser, she calls on those she knows. And those she doesn’t know. She uses her husband’s connections. Her Dur in connections. Her Lincoln connections. She makes her views known. Her support for health insurance for everyone. Her support for education. Her support for women’s health. Her support for infrastructure in the Midwest. She uses her husband’s name and her family name. Dirksen is a familiar name in Illinois. Until Barack Obama was elected President, Senator Everett Dirksen, leader of the Republican Senators, was the most powerful national politician from Illinois after Abraham Lincoln.
The Midwest. That is where the Democrats need success. We all remember the consequence for the presidential race of losing Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania? Pennsylvania can be part of the Midwest. It is not for nothing that Penn State joined the Big Ten.
Non-college educated white women. Donald Trump carried that group. Democrats need to get them back. In this woman’s story, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan needs to win among non-college educated white women if she is to be elected to Congress this time. She’s working on it.
Help Betsy Dirksen Londrigan https://www.betsydirksenlondrigan.com/achieve her goal. With candidates like her, women could be a majority of the Democratic Members of Congress. Just as women make up a majority of the country. Until women are a majority of Democratic Members of Congress, Congressional Democrats will remain, like Illinois’ Thirteenth Congressional District, just short of Normal. Who knows what to say about the Republicans and normality.
Expand the House majority. Win the Senate. Succeed in the Midwest.
MiDWEST Notes so far:
Iowa:
IA 03 Cynthia Axne for reelection, 13th closest D win in 2018
IA 04 J.D. Scholten to defeat Incumbent Steve King
Illinois:
IL 13 Betsy Dirksen Londrigan to defeat incumbent Rod Davis
IL 14 Lauren Underwood for reelection, 18th closest D win
Michigan:
Senate Gary Peters for reelection
MI 08 Elissa Slotkin for reelection, 17th closest D win in 2018
Minnesota:
Senate Tina Smith for reelection
