IDCCA President’s Message
by Kristina Zahorik, IDCCA President
@ILDCCA @McHenryDems

Dear Fellow Democratic Chairs & Friends,

It was an honor to be elected unanimously as your first female IDCCA President on November 10, 2018.  I am humbled and thrilled by the opportunity to continue and enhance the 102 county strategy. I also appreciate the kind words and confidence in leadership given to me by our immediate past President Doug House.

I am proud to call myself a lifelong Midwesterner and a Democrat. We believe in good government and government as service to people. In fact, after working in Washington, D.C. for Senator Paul Simon, I chose to come back to Illinois to raise my family with her traditions of family, plain speaking, thriftiness, and kindness. We know Illinois is a great state. We know there is positive value in her people, in her resources, and in her future. Our new Governor-elect JB Pritzker knows it too.

The IDCCA was an integral part, along with my fellow Chairs and County Parties, in the 2018 Blue Wave which elected JB and every state wide Democratic candidate. We also secured majorities in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly, flipped entire counties, made inroads into Republican strong holds, and elected key congressional candidates to provide a check & balance on the Trump Administration. It could not have been done without you.

The outgoing Administration and its minions, have mirrored the national tone and tenor of its Party, bent on tearing down our state and dividing us by any measure. Illinois stood up and said no more. We had record turnout and JB received more votes than any Illinois gubernatorial candidate since 1976. We elected Democrats who are committed to govern. I have confidence Governor Pritzker and our Democratically controlled General Assembly will act swiftly and broadly to correct the devastating mistakes of the last Administration and move Illinois forward.

While this is all great news, the Blue Wave was not felt as strongly in all parts of our state. In addition, we have much to hang on to and to build upon. This is just the half-way point. I look forward to traveling our great state and meeting with you to share ideas, ensuring we are prepared for 2020. The IDCCA will continue to be a resource for information, training, and recruitment. It is my hope, we will expand the grassroots work of precinct development, of ensuring election integrity, and in electing Democrats.

As this election passes and we move into the holiday season, I hope you too feel a lessening of the anxiety we felt since November 2016; however, I also understand our work is not finished. We will be right back at it in the New Year, together.

Thank you again for all you do and your support.

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes,

Kristina