The news of this seems to have been quashed by the Sanford saga but I felt it was important enough to bring up in a diary. Rep. Danny Davis has opened an exploratory committe to run for Cook County Board President. Davis ran for the position a few years back and lost to John Stroger’s son Todd, but now it looks like he could upset Stroger. Stroger’s antics have been making more voters angry over the past year, and Mike Quigley was able to win the IL-05 by touting his experience “fighting” the Stroger machine.
First off, why would Davis do this? He’s been in the House since 1996, and Cook County Board President appears to be a step down in some ways (granted, you do get to have a lot of influence over Chicago politics). He’s been a fixture in Chicago politics for 3 decades, but it seems between this and his previous desire to take Obama’s vacated Senate seat, he just wants to get out of Congress.
I’ve also failed to see any news sources talk about potential successors lining up to replace Rep. Davis. For a district as Democratic as his, why hasn’t there been the requisite feeding frenzy of ambitious aldermen, state legislators and county comissioners running to get a ticket to Washington? Is there anyone interested?
Just curious about this – for what could be a battle royale in Chicago politics, there’s been little coverage of it.