With Jill Biden at their side, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin endorsed Joe Biden for president on Friday, joining a growing list of Illinois elected officials siding with the former vice president over Bernie Sanders in advance of the March 17 Illinois primary.
“This is the most consequential election of my life,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot and Durbin, D-Ill., announced their Democratic primary pick at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd. They were joined by Illinois House Democrats who earlier endorsed Biden: Robin Kelly, Mike Quigley, Danny Davis, Brad Schneider and Bill Foster.
“I know Joe Biden will make Chicago a partner and not an adversary,” Lightfoot said, alluding to President Donald Trump’s years-long attacks on Chicago. She added that Biden is the candidate who could build “coalitions” and unite people from “small towns in Ohio to big cities like Chicago.”
Lightfoot, raised in swing state Ohio, told the Chicago Sun-Times afterwards that if needed, she would travel to Midwest battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin to stump for Biden.
Said Durbin: “America needs a president ... who will lead ... in the best traditions of both parties.
“Joe Biden is that person.”
Lightfoot didn’t give a direct answer when asked about voters’ and Sanders’ embrace of democratic socialism at a news conference where she underscored her own progressive credentials.
Jill Biden recounted how she was in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night in 2008, where Barack Obama and Joe Biden celebrated their victory. She welcomed the Illinois officials to “Team Biden.”
Earlier Friday she hit Glencoe for a fundraiser and then headed to Rosemont for an appearance before the Illinois Education Association.
She headlined a fundraiser in the morning at a home in Glencoe yielding about $100,000. She told the group the Biden is working on programs about “engaging the youth vote and coming up with some youth advocacy. Because you know Bernie is claiming that he has the youth vote, but guess what, they did not get out and vote for him. So, but, that does not mean that they don’t have great ideas, you know, and Joe has to be a big part of all it, they are voters too. So, we are going to address them, that’s going to be the next thing with our campaign.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., endorsed Biden earlier this week. Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker has repeatedly said he won’t endorse in the Democratic primary — but on Friday he said both Biden and Sanders haven’t even asked him for his support.
”Neither one has called me to ask for my endorsement,” Pritzker said at an unrelated press conference in Bensenville. “As you know I’ve taken the stand that any Democrat would be better than Donald Trump. So I will support the Democrat that wins the nomination.”
The only Illinois congressional endorsement Sanders has is from Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., who has been traveling to earlier primary states as a national surrogate for Sanders working to get out the Hispanic vote.
Sanders is in Chicago on Saturday for a rally starting at 1:30 p.m. at the bandshell in Grant Park. Joe Biden is in Chicago on March 13 for several fundraisers and likely a public event.
Pritzker sorry to see Warren bow out
Also, Friday Pritzker said he’s “sorry” to see Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren end her presidential bid. Pritzker and his wife were major donors and fundraisers for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid.
“As somebody who put his all into helping the first woman nominee of a major party to win the presidency, and someone who believes that it’s important that women take their place in leadership roles in our nation ... I was sorry to see that Sen. Warren is no longer a candidate,” Pritzker said. “And I would say that while we may not end up with a woman president in 2020, it is inevitable that we will have a woman president. And I believe this decade.”
CONTRIBUTING: Tina Sfondeles
