18th District State Representative Results
Eamon Kelly: 24.5% (3,950)
Patrick Keenan-Devlin: 25.4% (4,083)
Edmund B. Moran, Jr.: 10.5% (1,698)
Jeffrey Paul Smith: 11.9% (1,909)
Robyn Gabel: 27.7% (4,466)
Evanston Democrats Mobilizing for Change
On March 1, 2009 over 200 volunteers and organizers in Evanston, IL joined Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, State Senator Jeff Schoenberg, and the Democratic Party of Evanston to begin "Mobilizing for Change." In breakout sessions around the topics of healthcare, education, and the environment we discussed the issues and planned for the future.
Evanston Ba-Rocks for Obama
Join Evanston for Obama on BarackObama.com
DPOE and our legislators at the 2008 Fourth of July Parade. Photo by Julie Sweet
Thank You to Obama Supporters
Millions across the country took part in this campaign and our volunteers contributed on many fronts. Our local office and the 9th Congressional District played a unique, pivotal role that I believe was unmatched anywhere else:
Turning the Tide in Iowa
Evanston and the 9th CD and were asked to target Iowa. Among the surrounding battlegrounds, Iowa was the most difficult "ask;" it was furthest away and not a state we had sent large numbers of people to before. Our office ultimately sent close to 1,000 people to Iowa, including State Rep. Julie Hamos and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin on election day.
The Two-Front War: Indiana
On Sunday, October 26th, IL State Director Ken Bennett asked us to send volunteers to two battleground states. The 9th was the only CD asked to cover two battlegrounds. Our office was the command center of the Indy recruiting drive. With the help of extraordinary volunteers Jonathan Nieuwsma, Diane Johnson, and Charlie Ruehr, we got our Indy 500 -- yes, 500 people signed up to go to Indinapolis! -- and State Senator Jeff Schoenberg was among the canvassing crew down in Indy.
Our Amazing Button-Making Operation
Thanks to Beth McClennan, who dreamed up this concept and managed an ever-expanding enterprise, we sent tens of thousands of buttons to battleground states, designed by Beth and produced by hundreds of volunteers in our office.
Crucial Data Entry for the Campaign
We were asked to input the names and contact information from boxloads of hand-written forms generated through campaign activities. Using their laptops in our new wireless office, our volunteers performed this valuable work -- each email address we logged in was said to be worth $25 to the campaign. Ours was the only local office that contributed to this effort.
Vital Assistance for the Voter Protection Effort
Our volunteers then called thousands of likely Obama-supporter attorneys, enlisting them to provide voter protection in battleground states on election day. Our office was the only one assisting on this high-priority work which ultimately placed 30,000 attorneys in the battleground states.
Phenomenal Phone-Banking
We began phone-banking from our office in August and our volunteers made the essential calls to recruit area residents to join our battleground state trips. In addition, during the final Get Out The Vote push, we served as one of the area's only Last Call for Change locations, and our volunteers made thousands of calls to battleground state voters urging them to get to the polls.
You did it -- your extraordinary energy and dedication brought home a victory for all of us. Thank you for all you've done, and take some time to celebrate this grand accomplishment.
Toni Gilpin
Executive Director, Democratic Party of Evanston