Vice president Kamala Harris, left, walks with Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering as she visited the site of the mass shooting during the city’s 2022 Independence Day parade. Rotering, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, said she is supporting Harris for the party’s nomination for president.
AP
Several suburban delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention say they are ready to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris to face former President Donald Trump in the November election.
“It appears everyone is coming together,” said DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy, who was a Harris delegate before she ended her campaign in 2020. “It’s refreshing to see everyone standing behind our candidate and moving in the right direction. The most important thing is that we defeat Trump.”
DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy
As Illinois Democratic leaders and suburban members of Congress rallied around Harris, delegates received a form from the state party organization Monday morning asking them to endorse the vice president.
Delegate and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, who served on the Illinois leadership team for Harris’ 2020 presidential run, said she was proud to sign on.
“She is intelligent, she is compassionate, and she stands strong on issues that matter to me,” Rotering said, citing reproductive choice, gun violence prevention and support for Israel.
Rotering also recalled Harris calling her after the mass shooting at Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade and asking how she could help. Harris visited the city the next day and met with first responders who had been called to care for shooting victims.
Delegate Brian McPartlin of Palatine noted that he had initially been pledged to Hillary Clinton in 2008 but later was released and nominated Barack Obama.
“I got to support the first woman for president and then I got to support the first African American for president,” he said. “And now I’ll have the opportunity to support the first (Black) woman for president. I say that with pride.”
Brian J. McPartlin
A pair of Democratic state lawmakers, Sen. Adriane Johnson of Buffalo Grove and Rep. Bob Morgan of Deerfield, praised Harris’ qualifications for the Oval Office.
“(She will be) ready for the job from day one,” Johnson said.
Illinois Sen. Adriane Johnson
“She’s a tremendous leader and, most importantly, a former prosecutor who will remind the American people why a convicted felon would only serve his own interests over the next four years, rather than fighting for what truly matters to our community,” Morgan added.
Mark Guethle, chair of the Kane County Democrats and president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association, said he is all-in for Harris.
“She’ll be our first woman president … It’s about time,” he said.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said time is of the essence in making a choice and getting behind the nominee.
“When you’re talking about running for president with 100-odd days left in the campaign cycle, we need someone that can quickly pivot to run a national campaign. There is no one better suited than Vice President Kamala Harris,” he said.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega
One delegate who has not yet come out in support of Harris is state Rep. Fred Crespo of Hoffman Estates. Crespo, who describes himself as “a process guy,” said he would like to see more of a formal process in choosing a candidate.
“I personally am of the opinion that we should wait until we get to the convention to vote,” he said. “I wish there were a process to vet candidates.”
However, Crespo noted that when Biden picked Harris as his running mate in 2020, he posted on social media that his two biracial and bicultural daughters could see in her the possibilities for their futures.
State Rep. Fred Crespo