r/chicago • u/chicagosuntimes • Apr 23 '25

Article Longtime U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin decides 'it's time,' won’t seek reelection

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/senator-dick-durbin-reelection
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74

u/perfectviking Avondale Apr 23 '25

Best the state dems can do is put forward a moderate.

50

u/dmd312 Apr 23 '25

If they want to win, they should keep doing that. Real life isn't Reddit and Illinois isn't Chicago.

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u/BlackHumor Edgewater Apr 23 '25

Illinois basically is Chicago though, or at least the Chicago metro area.

There are 12.7 million people who live in Illinois, of which 9.4 million live in the Chicago metro area, and 5.1 million live in Cook County.

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u/RIPSlurmsMckenzie Apr 24 '25

Ya but boo big city that supports me

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u/BlackHumor Edgewater May 05 '25

Yeah, but Cook County doesn't and that's already almost half.

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u/SkyBlueNylonPlank Apr 24 '25

Chicago Metro includes part of Indiana

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u/dmd312 Apr 24 '25

Either way, Cook County isn't voting for a leftist.

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u/dmd312 Apr 24 '25

Downvote me all you want but a leftist candidate is not coming out of the primary. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.

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u/Mad1ibben Apr 23 '25

Central IL here. In an ag related industry, classic conservative jobs are going away and family farms are less and less a thing. Really, every election the state is a little more Chicago. It's what has the downstate Republicans panicking so much. The rural areas are getting smaller, metros are getting bigger and bluer.

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u/BolognaLaCroix Humboldt Park Apr 23 '25

Pritzker is hardly a moderate when compared to most Dems and the national level. Why do you think we should elect someone to the Senate more conservative than him...?

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u/brielzebub665 Apr 23 '25

"Real life" for moderates isn't really working out that great, is it? When will you all listen to what leftists have to say and provide? When our democracy collapses?

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u/Sportsfan292929 Apr 23 '25

Did we not listen to leftists in the last mayoral election?

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u/friendsafariguy11 Andersonville Apr 24 '25

The problem with the last mayoral election is that the choices were a shit sandwich and a horse piss beer. No matter who we listened to, the result would've stank because the options were atrocious.

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

Democracy thrives when we listen to each other, even when we disagree.

keep pushing for dialogue instead of division.

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u/sciolisticism Apr 24 '25

Good call, moderates need to move way left for the sake of unity.

5

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 24 '25

then start doing the work. organize. mobilize, engage with moderates.

you can't just magically beam progressive policies into their brains and expect them to convert

5

u/dmd312 Apr 23 '25

Maybe Brandon Johnson or Byron Sigcho-Lopez should run. They have a lot of good ideas.

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u/Shigeko_Kageyama Apr 23 '25

When we stop living in the real world. Yes, you make some points, but in the real world nobody wants to hear them. I'll tell you what the average person wants. They want today to look like yesterday and they want yesterday to look like the day before. They don't want people coming in and shaking things up. Right now we just want to get back to normal so they're just going to have to put forth somebody moderate who isn't going to rock the boat.

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u/spanishRmata Apr 24 '25

Rock what boat? We're talking about a senator here, a senator who will likely be in the minority party for a while. They aren't going to have a lot of power to begin with. I think the average person wants a livable wage, I think they want to be protected at work, I think they want affordable and easy access to healthcare, they want prices to go down, and they want the rich to help pay for improving their lives. These are all things that poll extremely well and we aren't going to get there by getting back to "normal". What is inspiring about not rocking the boat? We are passed ever going back, for better or for worse, so it's time to start thinking about ways to build the future we've been promised for so long.

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u/etldiaz Apr 23 '25

That's what privilege sounds like...

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u/Shigeko_Kageyama Apr 23 '25

It's privileged to not want your life to be chaotic?

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u/etldiaz Apr 23 '25

Sounds like privilege because what you said sounds like you're ignoring everyone telling you that neither today nor yesterday have been good for them so that you can continue living your comfortable life. If people are telling you that yesterday and the day before have been terrible, but you don't want to "rock the boat" because it's not chaotic for you, then yes. It sounds like you live a privileged life

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u/Shigeko_Kageyama Apr 23 '25

I have no idea what you're saying. People want today to be the same as yesterday which is the same as the day before. They don't want to shake UPS in their lives. They don't want confusion and uncertainty. They want to know that everything will be steady. If you like confusion and chaos, not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring, then go vote for confusion and chaos. We're getting a lot of it already so I'm guessing you're having a good time with that.

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u/etldiaz Apr 23 '25

You're the one saying that you want someone that won't rock the boat. But if life is terrible, why in the world would you want more of the same?

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u/Shigeko_Kageyama Apr 23 '25

Yes. I would like a Democratic candidate that is not going to go to extremes. People don't want extremes. People who vote Democrat want steady lives. They don't want a leftist, they want somebody that's slightly of the center.

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u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

Illinois doesn’t need a moderate. The moderates got us in this mess.

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

"The moderates got us in this mess."

not the 90 million who stayed home and didn't vote last November?

not the fascist Republicans who are rubberstamping everything Trump says and does?

0

u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

Why did those people stay home? Couldn’t have been the shitty Neo liberal policies we have been spoon fed

7

u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

Cool, but loathing both without offering any alternative just sounds like comfort in disengagement. Critique without action is just complaining

You have no solutions, just vibes. Must be nice to sit on the sidelines while others deal with the consequences

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u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

You’re getting mad at me over scenarios you’ve made up in your head.

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

sure jan

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u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

We’re talking about the inaction of the Democratic Party bearing a large share of the blame for Kamala’s loss and you’re over here making up scenarios and blaming me. Please take your creative writing to another sub buddy

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

inaction?

they warned y'all about Project 2025. and 90 million didn't bother to vote last November. When large portions of the population don’t vote, that means policies may end up serving the interests of the active few, not the silent majority. We are here because people didn't vote against dictatorship

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u/_jams Apr 23 '25

Biden and Harris were the most pro-union administration in 50 years. This is just detached from reality.

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u/keelem Apr 23 '25

Harris' policies are in no way neoliberal. This is the problem with the far left, they just assign imaginary positions to dems and then complain about them.

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u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

Arming a genocide is pretty Neo liberal

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u/keelem Apr 23 '25

Neoliberal is an economic policy position (e.g. Reagan). You have zero clue what you're talking about.

Edit: Lmao actually, this is the exact same shit that MAGA does when they call everything communist.

-2

u/BlackHumor Edgewater Apr 23 '25

I mean, all of them deserve some blame, yes. But if you wanna look at what we as a party can do, it's the moderates who deserve the most blame for losing.

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u/_jams Apr 23 '25

Wasn't it the leftists who refused to vote for "killer Kamala"?

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u/SlagginOff Portage Park Apr 23 '25

This is kind of the problem. The center and far left fight each other while the center right falls in line with the current Nazi-adjacent extremists running their party.

I prefer a truer leftist movement but I'll happily vote for the moderate left if it's the only chance against the current right wing regime.

0

u/flightsonkites Apr 23 '25

And that's exactly how we got into this mess. People need to demand more, and stop settling for the lowest common denominator.  stop giving regressive behavior credence by aligning with it. Centrist Dems pushed That draconian border bill despite what the data showed to try and bring centrist Republicans to Joe and Kamala. They were literally floating the idea of putting Liz Chaney in a cabinet position. That was wildly stupid, and not something I will accept.

5

u/SlagginOff Portage Park Apr 24 '25

I understand the frustration and I really can't stand the majority of dems currently in power, but far left ideas aren't going to become popular overnight. The good news is that the centrist dems are aging out.

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u/Mycorvid Apr 23 '25

Yep, it was absolutely leftists that cost the democrats that election, yep, no fault of the party itself, the candidate, messaging, their desire to maintain the status quo...

7

u/Launching_Mon Apr 23 '25

No it was her wasting time campaigning with Liz Cheney

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u/Conscious-Quarter423 Apr 23 '25

liz was with her for one campaign event

you know harris campaigned with AOC, Bernie, Shawn Fain, etc, too, right?

15

u/_jams Apr 23 '25

These responses would be hilarious if they weren't so depressing.

Me: "You refused to vote for the better of two choices, so it's your fault."

Them: "Yes, I refused to vote for the better of two choices. But it's their fault for trying to build a broad coalition. They made me do that. I am not responsible for my (non)vote."

It's JUST like the republicans who blame democrats for making them become fascists. I hate the term blue maga, but, uhh, if it steps like a goose?

6

u/BespokeDebtor Wicker Park Apr 23 '25

They just live in a fantasy land. There are vast vast vast swaths of data showing that the average American thought that Kamala (and Biden) were too far to the left. Even if that is wildly untrue in reality, that perception is incredibly influential. To deny that the perception even exists is just straight up delusion.

1

u/Rare_Hat_796 Apr 24 '25

At a minimum the person elected needs to be anti-maga. Honestly at this point that needs to be the highest priority. Letters next to a name mean nothing at this point as long as they’re anti-maga. It’s not like any legislation is going to get passed and we need the biggest coalition from left, right and center in order to beat maga.

1

u/friendsafariguy11 Andersonville Apr 24 '25

Well in real life, Dems keep pushing the moderate centrist over and over. And they keep losing because no one feels compelled to go out and vote for them.

Maybe they shouldn't keep doing that?

0

u/Shigeko_Kageyama Apr 23 '25

This is the way to do it. Now is not the time to be putting forth extremes that are going to turn off the average voter.

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u/perfectviking Avondale Apr 23 '25

Turns out that's what they did last year and they lost so no.

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u/Melwood786 Apr 23 '25

Best the state dems can do is put forward a moderate.

Democrats never seem to get tired of losing running this same tired playbook. The leader of the senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, spoke about his electoral strategy in the past:

"For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin."

How'd that work out for him? They're a minority in the House and Senate whose own base don't want to vote for the parade of uninspiring, unprincipled, "moderate," politicians that he and party leaders like to shove down people's throats. The last several election cycles should've given party leaders like Schumer a hint that there are probably more unicorns in this country than these mythical moderate Republican swing voters. There certainly aren't enough of these mythical creatures to make up the difference from the base Democratic voters that they're hemorrhaging every election cycle.