2018-2019

EXECUTIVE BOARD & LEADERSHIP TEAM eeee

ELECTED OFFICERS PARTY LEADERS
Erik Rankin, Chair Ky Ajayi, Executive Board At-Large
erik@mcleancountydemocrats.org Andrew Jacobs, Executive Board At-Large
Mike Matejka, Executive Board At-Large
Dorothy Deany, Vice Chair
ddeany711@hotmail.com John Penn
Emeritus Chair
Kay Moss, Secretary
kay.moss.53@gmail.com Lola Augstin
Office Manager/Member Outreach
Matt Watchinski, Treasurer deaugs1@aol.com
mwatchinski@carpentersunion.org
Dee Wilson
Education Director
COMMITTEE CHAIRS daw61701@gmail.com Pictured below)
(from left) Dorothy Deany, Vice Chair;
All committee meetings are open Michael Gorman Kay Moss, Secretary; Erik Rankin, Chair;
to all members of the Party. Please Data Administrator Matt Watchinski, Treasurer
contact committee chairs for dates
and times of meetings.

Karla Chandler-Huffman,
Events Chair
karla.huffman@comcast.net
Patrick Cortesi,
Communications Chair
pt.corts44@gmail.com
Megan McCann,
Finance Chair
megan.blono@gmail.com
Jim Rogal,
Elections Chair
jrogal@midwestlaborers.org
eeeeeeee
Chair’s Message

Dear McLean County Democrats,

I knew we’d been busy during my first year as Chair of the McLean County
Democrats. As you read through this annual report, you will see why! The report
makes clear how far we’ve come, our many successes, and the number of initiatives
that are currently underway. Make no mistake: McLean County Democrats are
strong and we are passionate!

The strength of our Party lies in our volunteers and Precinct Committee People.
Volunteers turned out in record numbers for the 2018 midterm elections. Our
precinct people are a critical network of volunteers working at every level to
support our local Party and connect with voters in their precincts.

The heart and passion of our work as a Party rests in our coalition building.
We are strengthening and building relationships with NAACP, Indivisible, Black
Lives Matter, local unions, DSA, Moms Demand Action, Stonewall Democrats,
ISU College Democrats, IWU College Democrats, Voices of Reason, and with
many other groups and around other core issues.

The 2018 midterm election was a breakthrough year for the McLean County
Democrats. Together, we have raised funds in excess of $100,000. We also

• received an historic Blue Wave grant to build Party infrastructure;

• engaged volunteers throughout the campaign and election season;
• supported a record number of local Democratic candidates; and
• supported the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Illinois.

As we look forward to 2019 and 2020, our Party will focus on reaching out to
engage Democrats throughout McLean County; investing in ongoing training
for our precinct committee persons, candidates, and campaign leadership; and
securing our future as a vibrant, viable political choice in McLean County.

We can’t do it without you. Please accept this invitation to become a sustaining

member of the McLean County Democrats, attend a meeting, volunteer, or
come to one of our events. Our future is challenging, hopeful, and exciting.

Erik Rankin, Chair

McLean County Democrats
FUNDRAISING

TOTAL RAISED IN 2018 | $135,308

J udging from our sold out Baldini Scholarship Dinner, full house at the Nacho Average Happy
Hour, and the standing-room only Election Night Watch Party, word is getting out that the Mc-
Lean County Dems are fun! Events are growing as people discover we’re having a great time support-
ing our local Democratic Party. Our thanks to the Events Committee chair, Karla Chandler-Huffman
and her team for their leadership and hard work!

eeeeeeeee
Baldini Scholarship Dinner
August 15, 2018
Speakers:
Illinois Representative Litesa E. Wallace
Illinois’ 67th Legislative District

Jennifer Welch,
President and CEO
Planned Parenthood of Illinois (Above left) (from left) Jennifer Welch,
Sally Pancrazio, Kay Moss, Jodie Slothower,
and Representative Litesa Wallace.
(Lower left) Erik Rankin, Chair,
McLean County Democrats
(Above) Baldini Scholarship Dinner guests

Blue Wave Grant

McLean County Democrats received funding at historic levels through the
Blue Wave Grant. The Party received over $85,000 for Party building and
infrastructure support. Thanks to Kay Moss for taking lead in this grant
application and administration.
 Honoring the
Roosevelts Dinner
February 28, 2019
Speaker:
Renato Mariotti
CNN Legal Analyst

eeeee
(Above) Honoring the Roosevelts
Dinner guests.
(Left) Renato Mariotti, CNN
Legal Analyst
(Right) Kay Moss and Lola Augstin,
2019 Roosevelt Award Winners

$160,000

$140,000
$135,308

#McDems
$120,000

YEARLY
$100,000 RECEIPTS

$80,000

$60,000
$53,683
McLean County
$40,000
Democrats Financials YEAR END
2004-2018 $20,000
BALANCE

0
‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘16 ‘17 ‘18
 eeee
PRECINCT COMMITTEE PERSONS:
RECRUITING AND TRAINING

O ur team of precinct committee people are second to none

in Illinois. Our Party invests heavily in recruiting and training
precinct committee people. Our precinct people live within their
precincts and represent their voters by serving on the McLean
County Democratic Party Central Committee.

In August, the McLean County Democratic Central Committee passed

bylaws, outlining our governance. At the annual meeting in January,
the Central Committee passed a statement of our values and principles.
Our thanks to Dr. Sally Pancrazio, Bloomington Precinct 33,
for her leadership on these important documents.

SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
AUGUST
Increase In
Number Of
APRIL

Precinct
MAY
Committee
People In 2018

54 68 73 92 96
In 2018, our Precinct Committee People

79% n Provided 133 hours of training

n Canvassed over 3100 hours

Of All Precincts
In McLean County
Have Precinct n Logged over 8400 calls for candidates
Committee People
eeeeeeee
TO OUR DEDICATED PRECINCT
COMMITTEE PEOPLE
Paul Finch Erik Rankin
Beth Golowski Maya Rejmer
George Gordon Kayley Rettberg
Ky Ajayi Joseph Gorski Nikita Richards
Lola Augstin Fred Hahn Jim Rogal
Karla Bailey-Smith Victoria Harris Josh Rohrscheib
Carol Baker Arthur Haynes Nathan Russo
Jennifer Barlow Joe Hernandez Craig Ryan
Emily Barr Alanna Holly Jan Scherff
Hannah Beer Sara Holthaus Adeline Schultz
Jeffrey C. Bertrand Dennis Huber Jeremy Scott
Jill Blair Michelle Hunt Jodie Slothower
Julie Brandt Andrew Jacobs Julie Smith
Erik Bush Elizabeth Johnston Logan Smith
Samantha Case Wayne Karplus Phillip Smith
Karla Chandler-Huffman Christopher Kawakita Sheila Snyder
Georgene Chissell Connie Kelly Emma Somers
Sharon Chung Kathleen Kirk Tessa Somers
Marabeth Clapp Cathy Lust Billy Stripeik
Scott Clegg Raul Martinez Carolyn Stucky
Sandy Colbs Mike Matejka Joel Studebaker
Patrick Cortesi Ben Matthews Charlene Tarter
Susan Cortesi Ron McClintock Kristen Throm
Julie Cozad-Callighan Joyce Moncelelle-Kaye Jason Waggoner
Tom Crumpler Kay Moss Matt Watchinski
Graham Dano Theresa Necessary John Whalen
Dorothy Deany Renee Nestler Thomas Whalen
Jodie DeCremer Susan O’Rourke Terrance Whitecotton II
Jeffery Detherage Sally Pancrazio Thomas Whitt
Gwen Donnelly Catrina Parker Jessica Williamson-Scott
Byron Dungey Anthony Penn Deborah Wilson
Hannah Eisner Erik Penn Laurie Wollrab
Lynne Fazzini John Penn Joann Yant
 Baldini Scholarship Dinner
McLean County Fair
eeeee
McDems Holiday Party
Honoring the Roosevelts Dinner
at these events !
Nacho Average Happy Hour
Labor Day Parade
Memorial Day Parade
Christmas Parade
Memorial Day Picnic
Election Night Watch Party
Talk, Tacos, and Beer
West Bloomington Neighborhood Block Party
West Bloomington Revitalization Project
First Fridays
After Party Parties
Pride Month Kick-off
Equal Pay Rally
March for Our Lives Rally
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
MLK Luncheon
Breakfast, Bingo, and Banking
ISU Homecoming Parade
4th of July Parade
Children’s Home and Aid Holiday Support for Families
YWCA Circle of Women
Super Meet and Greet

Contact Management System

O ur Party is migrating our website, emails, and contact data to a state-of-the-art

contact resource management platform, allowing us to sync our database with
our communication tools.
This large communication project will take several months to complete.
Our thanks to Kay Moss and Lola Augstin for their leadership, Ben Matthews
for the website design, Susan O’Rourke for data updates, and Myra Gordon
and Sue Anderson for donor appreciation.

Hustle
Hustle, a new texting platform, allows volunteers to engage with targeted voters
through text messaging. We logged 94,672 outbound texts and 17,106 inbound texts!
Hats off to Michael Gorman who led this successful new approach to reaching voters!
eeeeeeee EVENTS AND OUTREACH
Web ads
In collaboration with the Illinois State University College Democrats, we produced a
video to promote early voting on our social media sites. Erik Rankin, Chair of McLean
County Democrats, and Nikita Richards, candidate for McLean County Clerk, were
featured in the ad. The web ad was promoted on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you
to the talented Andrew Jacobs for his leadership and creativity!

Facebook Posts and Video

n Total reach on Facebook increased from an average of 562 to 1,119.
n Reactions, comments, shares increased from an average of 18 to 85.
n Posts reach as many as 3000 users.
n Viewers watched 12,406 minutes of videos.
Our thanks to Patrick Cortesi, chair of the Communication Committee,
for pushing our social media!

Postcards
Volunteers adopted “orphan” precincts where we had no precinct com-
mittee person. We sent over 6,000 handwritten postcards, reminding
people to vote and telling them the dates and times of early voting. In
late October, volunteers sent another 6,000 postcards reminding people
of Election Day. Our thanks to Lola Augstin and Janet Guaderrama who
led a successful orphan precinct project, Indivisible for hosting postcard
writing parties and Gary Schwartz for his graphic design.

Get Out the Vote

Our historic Blue Army of volunteers turned out the vote in
McLean County like never before! Under the leadership of
Jim Rogal, we had nearly 600 volunteers on Election Day!
n 327 Blue Wave volunteers10 Coordinators
n 2 attorneys on call
n 48 callers county wide
n 66 Poll Watchers in targeted precincts
n 126 runners in targeted precincts

Block Party
The Dems proudly co-sponsored the 8th Annual West Bloomington Neighborhood (Top) Hustle training
Block Party! Our thanks to Arthur Haynes for his leadership on this annual event! (Middle) Mayor Tari Renner, Nikita Richards,
and Betsy Dirksen Londrigan
Ballot Chase (Bottom) Early Voting postcards

eeeeeeee
Volunteers made 14,178 phone calls between October 1 and November 5,
reminding voters to turn in those vote-by-mail ballots! Lola Augstin and
Michael Gorman spearheaded this important effort.
n 68,087 people voted
n 8% of voters voted by mail
EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
eeeee

(Left) (from left) Deb Borowski, Amanda

Breeden, Sharon Chung, Janet Guadarama
Jodie Slothower, Sally Pancrazio,
Kay Moss, Mary O’Brian.
(Above) (from left) Jill Blair, Alanna Holly,
Janessa Williams, Marlee Holly.

O n May 31, 2018, Illinois became the 37th state to ratify the Equal
Rights Amendment. McLean County Democrats strongly supported
this statewide effort for equality.

In recognition of the ratification of the ERA, the Party started a new Equal
Rights Award, recognizing the achievements and contributions of individu-
als and organizations whose selfless work helps create a world that is more
inclusive, just, and fully equal for all.

On August 15, Illinois Representative Litesa E. Wallace, from Illinois’ 67th

Legislative District, became the first recipient of the McLean County (Above) Illinois Representative Litesa E.
Democrats’ Equal Rights Award. She was recognized for her role in the Wallace, Illinois’ 67th Legislative District
Illinois House for her support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

WOMEN of  PERSISTANCE

Join the Women of Persistence for a glass of wine before each

regular Dems meeting at the Radisson. This group encourages
new women members, new women candidates, and women in
leadership roles in our Party.
eeeeeee HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

August 15, 2018

Dear Friends:

I was so thrilled back in May when Illinois, my beloved

home state, became the 37th state in the nation to pass the Equal
Rights Amendment. Tonight, I want to extend my personal
thanks to all those McLean County Democrats who worked and
organized to make it possible, especially your honorees: Kay
Moss, Sally Pancrazio, and Jodie Slothower.

I was proud that the 2016 Democratic Party Platform

included passing the Equal Rights Amendment alongside such
important issues as equal pay for women, national paid family
and medical leave, quality childcare, higher wages for childcare
workers, and increased support for the millions of people paying
for, coordinating, or providing care for aging relatives or those
with disabilities. These issues are not “women’s issues”, they are
family issues, they are economic issues, and they are essential for
building the future we want.

In 2018, strong women all across our country are running

for office, becoming activists, and volunteering for candidates
and causes in record numbers. Together, let’s keep raising our
voices, doing the most good, and fighting for what is right.
Onward!

Wish solidarity, best wishes, and warm regard, I am

Sincerely yours,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

(Above) Congratulatory
letter from Hillary;
(Lower Left) (Front row)
Sally Pancrazio, Paula
Purdue, Kay Moss (Back
row) Lisa Kaihara, Kathryn
Modisette, Annie Williams;
(Lower Center) (from left)
Representative Dan Brady,
Joanne Maitland, Represen-
tative Lou Lang, Kay Moss,
Sally Pancrazio.
MIDTERM ELECTIONS

F rom exciting new technology like Hustle, to good old fashioned calling and
canvassing, McLean County Democrats registered voters and turned out the vote
in record numbers! The result: we have made serious inroads into what have been
(Left) Cristo Ortiz-Palafox and nephews at
election watch party; (Center) (from left)
Logan Smith, David Parker, Scott Black,
Laurie Wollrab, and Jill Blair; (Right) (clockwise)
soundly Republican districts, claimed five seats on the McLean County Board, elected Sergio Tovar, Samantha Kahoun, Megan
a Democratic Governor, and added to the majorities in the Illinois House and Senate. Chlumecky, Gordon Robinson.

2014 103,672

2018 117,173
Increase In Registered Voters In McLean County

(Left) Midterm election watch

party at the Radisson Hotel and
Conference Center.
Thanks to our
local candidates
Jill Blair
Sharon Chung
Elizabeth Johnston
Jen McMillin
David Parker
Nikita Richards
David Siebert
Logan Smith
Shayna Watchinski
Ben Webb
Laurie Wollrab

(Pictured above) A group of Election 2018 candidates; (back row from left) Junius Rodriguez,
Elizabeth Johnston, Shayna Watchinski, Nikita Richards, J. B. Pritzker, Logan Smith, Ben Webb
(front row from left) Sharon Chung, Laurie Wollrab, Jill Blair.

(Above) Voices of Reason voter registration

booth at Sugar Creek Arts Festival;
(Below) Memorial Day parade; (Right)
Indivisible McLean County phone banking

Increase In County Board Seats

25 % 35 %
A NEW PERMANENT HEADQUARTERS
eeeee
A s of January, our McLean County
Democrats have a new permanent
headquarters! We are in the highly visible,
historic, downtown Bloomington. Located
at 422 N Main St, we can now open our
office daily as a gathering place for meetings,
committee work, and community events.
This new, permanent home will send the
message that we are a vital part of the
community and our growing Party is here
to stay! Stop in for one of the Downtown
Bloomington Association’s First Friday
events or any time!

Location: Downtown Bloomington

422 N Main St, Bloomington, IL 61701

Our Thanks To The Supporters

Who Made it Happen
n Lola and Dan Augstin
n Thom DelForge and Mary Munson

n Gary Schwartz

n Matt Watchinski

n Carpenters Local Union 237

n IBEW 197

n Painters & Plasterers District

Council 30
(Top) New permanent McLean County
n Plumber & Pipefitters Local 99
Democratic headquarters; (Top inset) First
Friday open house; (Above) Watch party for
a CNN presidential forum; (Left) Pete and
Deb Borowski and Tom Crumpler
eeeeeee
THANK YOU to our sustaining members. The McLean County Democrats
appreciate the generous support of our sustaining members. Their ongoing contributions
have build and supported the work of our party and our candidates. We look forward to
working with you in 2019 as we build toward incredible wins in 2020.

Ky Ajayi
Anonymous (2) Want to become a sustaining member?
Lola and Dan Augstin Contact us at info@McLeanCountyDemocrats
Sarah and Brian Bauer
Jill Blair and Jeff Michaels
Justin and Christina Boyd
Georgene Chissell John Holaway Susan and Mike O’Rourke
Sharon Chung Karla and Mark Huffman Sally Bulkley Pancrazio
Patrick and Susan Cortesi Illinois for Progress David and Catrina Parker
Jeff Crabill Joe and Elizabeth Johnston Erik and Kristy Rankin
Catharine Crockett, MD Emily Kelehan and Carlo Robustelli Elisabeth and Matt Reed
Anna Darrow Toni Lenzi and Tracey Vogelsang Tari Renner
Jan Darrow Cathy Lust Friends of Jim Rogal
Dorothy and Bernie Deany Ben and Kari Matthews Craig and Lisa Ryan
Dr. Mary Dellorto R.C. McBride Karen Schmidt
David Dow and James Neeley Megan McCann Dave Shields
George and Myra Gordon Ron and Mary McClintock Jodie Slothower
Michael Gorman Phyllis McCluskey-Titus and John Titus Susan Spurlock and Tim Hunt
Sarah Grammer, Jean Michalski and Val Laymon Joel Garth Studebaker
Normal Township Supervisor Joyce Moncelle-Kaye Matt and Shayna Watchinski
Phil Grizzard Carolyn Moon and Richard Seehuus Thomas Whitt and Rachel Lapp Whitt
Jackie and Cecil Gunderson Kay Moss and Tom Crumpler John and Laurie Wollrab
Roger and Sharon Hellman Renee Nestler Dava Brooke Zschau

Monthly Meetings

M eetings of the McLean County

Democrats are open to the
public. Join us! We meet at 6:00pm on
the third Thursday of each month at the
Radisson Hotel and Conference Center,
located at 8 Traders Circle, Normal.
 Stay in touch with the McLean County Democrats

mcleancountydemocrats McLeanCoDems

info@McLeanCountyDemocrats.org
422 N Main St, Bloomington, IL 61701

All labor for this annual report was donated.

Compiled/written by Kay Moss with Lola Augstin
Photos by Merlin Mather and other great McDems!
Graphic design and printing donated by Gary Schwartz