#il-08

Jeff Singer at The Downballot:

The 2026 primary season continues Tuesday as voters in Illinois pick candidates for state and federal offices, including in several Democratic contests that have drawn attention far outside the Land of Lincoln. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin announced last April that he would not seek a sixth term representing this reliably blue state, leading to an expensive and unpredictable three-way battle between Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. The decisions by Kelly and Krishnamoorthi to run statewide in turn set off packed primaries for the House districts they are giving up. There are similarly busy races underway to replace Democratic Reps. Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky, who are both retiring after close to three decades in Congress. The primaries for these four Democratic-friendly districts, all of which are located in or around Chicago, have been defined by massive outlays from third-party interests. Organizations affiliated with the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC, the AI industry, and the crypto sector have been responsible for most of the over $30 million in outside spending that’s been deployed across these four House races. These well-heeled groups aren’t just interested in using their resources to promote their favored candidates and undermine contenders they’re hoping to keep out of Congress. Some candidates who have struggled to gain support have been the involuntary beneficiaries of positive ads that are in fact aimed at diverting votes away from a stronger rival. Many of these PACs have also deployed misleading ads attacking vocal progressives as insufficiently liberal while simultaneously portraying centrists as progressive warriors. Semafor’s Dave Weigel dubbed this approach “bizarro-world branding.”

“What hasn’t changed is that these PACs run on what their strategists believe will play with Democratic primary voters, not what their funders want to achieve,” he wrote. “As a result, watching TV in Chicago makes you feel like a cordyceps fungus has taken over the Democratic Party — imitating its messaging to destroy it, just as the parasite does in the wild.” Below, you’ll find our guide to these five races. We’re also shining a spotlight on the Democratic primary for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, where four-term incumbent Toni Preckwinkle is fighting to remain the leader of America’s second-most populous county.

Today, we have several big primaries in Illinois. The Downballot (of which I am a paid subscriber of) has excellent coverage of the big-ticket races.

At its Friday hearings, the US Supreme Court sounded like it was likely to go ahead with approving the suspension of TikTok until it changes ownership.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) spoke with MSNBC's Chris Jansing about the case. The congressman also commented on Trump's sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial.

The government of China is notorious for its hacking and digital espionage activities. Giving China a direct pipeline to half of all Americans' digital pockets is a security risk to those individuals and to the country as a whole.

China wants a back door to your data but hypocritically bans US digital companies like Google, Yahoo, Fandom, Zoom, Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, and even DeviantArt – to name just a small percentage.

Prof. Shaomin Li of Old Dominion University has written extensively about international business and China in particular. In an article at The Conversation he has this to say about the relationship between ByteDance (parent company of TikTok) and the Communist Party of China.

I’m not convinced by TikTok’s argument that American users’ data is safe because it’s stored outside of China, in the U.S., Malaysia and Singapore. I also don’t think it’s relevant whether the party has members on the ByteDance board or gives explicit orders to TikTok. Regardless of whether ByteDance has formal ties with the party, there will be the tacit understanding that the management is working for two bosses: the investors of the company and – more importantly – their political overseers that represent the party. But most importantly, when the interests of the two bosses conflict, the party trumps.

In China, the ruling Communist Party has a say in everything.

Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

Former congresswoman Melissa Bean won Tuesday’s Democratic primary election in the eighth district of Illinois, the seat Bean held from 2005 to 2011. Bean’s name recognition and high-profile endorsements propelled her to victory with help from big-money interest groups supporting Israel and big tech. Her victory in the nine-person primary is something of a win for the Democratic establishment over its progressive wing, which favored Junaid Ahmed in the eighth district. In an interview with HuffPost last week, Bean said voters appreciated how she served in Congress when Barack Obama was president and Democrats enacted sweeping reforms of the health care and financial industries. And she said voters valued an experienced candidate. “They want someone who’s going to hit the ground running, because there’s a real urgency about what’s going on in this country,” Bean said. “They want to know you’re going to know how to get out there and stop the chaos and do something about it.” Bean won endorsements from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and several other senior Democrats, while Ahmed had the backing of progressive icons such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Ugh. AIPAC-backed DINO Melissa Bean won in IL-08 over Junaid Ahmed.

OFFICIAL: Tammy Duckworth headed to Congress, sends tea party freshman Joe Walsh packing in IL-8. mojo.ly/WxP3qr #p2

On Thursday, after his debate against Democrat Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) told reporters that an abortion exception is never necessary to save a woman’s life, explaining, “with modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance” of a woman dying from childbirth. Walsh claimed pro-choice advocates simply used the prospect of maternal death “to make us look unreasonable.”

Walsh went on to assert that women whose health would be jeopardized if they carry their fetus to term are simply using the exception as a “tool” to get an abortion for “any reason.”

With modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance…There’s no such exception as life of the mother. And as far as health of the mother, same thing, with advances in science and technology, health of the mother has become a tool for abortions anytime under any reason.

By pretending these women don’t exist, Walsh joins the ranks of his other colleague, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), who ignited a firestorm over his opposition to a rape exception because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) encouraged supporters at a recent campaign event to scare their employees into voting for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In a video released by progressive super PAC CREDO and first reported on by the Chicago Sun-Times, Walsh can be seen advising business owners and managers to apply a little suggestive pressure on their workers.

"If you run, manage or own a company tell your employees. What was the CEO this week that said, 'If Obama is reelected, I may have to let all of you go next year? If Obama's reelected, if the Democrats take Congress, I may not be able to cover your health insurance next year,'" Walsh said. "If there's ever a year where people who run, manage, or own their companies are going to energize their employees, it better be this year. We're up against it."

Duckworth rips Walsh over ‘dress’ attack: Mostly I’ve worn one color – camoflage (via Raw Story )

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) deployed a strange attack on his Democratic opponent, Iraq War veteran and former Veterans Affairs official Tammy Duckworth, at a debate Tuesday night — brandishing a photo of her picking out a dress for the Democratic National Convention.

The point that Walsh intended to illustrate was that Duckworth was a political insider and a handpicked candidate of the national Democrats.

“I was marching in a parade in Schaumburg (Ill.), Sunday, two days before the Democratic convention,” Walsh said, holding up the photo, “when Tammy Duckworth was on a stage down in Charlotte (N.C.) — if you can look at the picture — picking out a dress for her speech Tuesday night.”

Back in September, Walsh issued a statement attacking Duckworth’s speech at the convention, and accusing her of dodging debates: “It has become abundantly clear that at this point the only debate Ms. Duckworth is actually interested in having is which outfit she’ll be wearing for her big speech.” Walsh pointed to the photo on Tuesday night as a way to explain what he said previously.

Members of the audience booed profusely, but Walsh wasn’t fazed. He went on to address his criticism of Duckworth picking out her clothes for the Democratic convention — by holding up the photo.

The audience booed again, very loudly, as Walsh was finishing his statement. For her part, Duckworth accused Walsh of trying to distract from the issues — and she got in a kicker of her own.

“And yes, I do sometimes look at the clothes that I wear,” she said. “But for most of my adult life, I’ve worn one color — it’s called camouflage.”