Obama to stump for Illinois Dems Sunday, after Biden’s Wednesday warm-up

Former President Barack Obama will headline a get-out-the-vote rally on Sunday in Chicago for Illinois Democrats, coming home after former Vice President Joe Biden stumped for the ticket Wednesday in the suburbs and Downstate.

With the Chicago area holding the most Democratic votes in the state, Obama’s rally will be 3 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave.

Obama will also be the draw at a Sunday noon rally at the Gary Genesis Convention Center to boost embattled Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly and other Indiana Democrats. Northwest Indiana is a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise heavily Republican state.

Ticket information for the Chicago event is at www.jbpritzker.com/obama – and at INDems.org/Obama for the Gary rally.

Biden led a rally in St. Charles for Lauren Underwood, the Democrat running against Rep. Randy Hultgren in the 14^th Congressional District, taking in the western and northwest suburbs. Underwood worked on health policy in the Obama administration.

Not to be outdone when it comes to surrogates, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., is the draw at a rally for Hultgren Friday in Spring Grove, close to Ryan’s own House district, which hugs the Illinois-Wisconsin border.

Last Saturday, Hultgren traveled some 300 miles south to join President Donald Trump on stage at a rally in Murphysboro.

With the election on Tuesday – and with early balloting already ongoing in Illinois – campaigns are focusing on jazzing up their supporters to make sure their political base vote turns out.

Biden spoke as Trump is ramping up his rhetoric that appeals to his anti-immigrant base.

Trump earlier this week threatened to yank birth right citizenship and on Wednesday said that he may deploy up to 15,000 troops to the southern border to meet a caravan that is walking through Mexico and is weeks away from reaching the U.S.

Ryan said the House would have nothing to do with ending birthright, earning him a big slam from Trump, who said in a vicious tweet that Ryan “should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!”

Biden, without using Trump’s name, alluded to Trump’s divisiveness.

“What Tuesday’s all about is we have to make it clear to the American people who we are as Democrats,” Biden said.

“We have to make it clear that the Democrats choose hope over fear, that we choose unity over division, that we choose allies over enemies, truth over lies, and we choose, we really do choose a brighter future over the desperate grip this hard reactionary racist right has on our ankle.”

After St. Charles, Biden headed to East St. Louis – another source of Democratic votes in southern Illinois turf that is otherwise Republican – to be the draw at a rally with Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker, his running mate Juliana Stratton; Attorney General contender Kwame Raoul, Treasurer Mike Frerichs; Rep. Cheri Bustos and House hopeful Brendan Kelly, in a battle with Rep. Mike Bost.

Though Hultgren joined Trump’s rally in Murphysboro, the event was designed to boost Bost’s 12^th Congressional District re-election bid.

Obama’s Sunday rally at UIC will also feature Pritzker, Raoul, Underwood and Sean Casten.

Casten, challenging Rep. Peter Roskam in the 6th Congressional District – also taking in western and northwest suburbs – met with Biden privately at the Biden event.

During his Friday visit, Ryan is also doing a small event for Roskam in Lake Zurich that is closed to the press, the Roskam campaign said.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent another $400,000 for anti-Roskam media spots, according to Federal Election Commission records posted on Wednesday.

The DCCC, the House political shop, threw in $80,000 to oppose Hultgren.

Democrats need to pick up 23 Republican seats to flip the House, with four GOP targets in Illinois: Bost, Hultgren, Roskam and Rep. Rodney Davis, who also was on stage with Trump in Murphysboro.

Gov. Bruce Rauner,, who is running behind Pritzker in the polls and struggling to catch up, attended the rally but was not mentioned by Trump during his remarks and was unable to meet with him in private.

Unlike the Illinois Democratic ticket, the top Illinois Republicans are not unified and are not on the road together. Whether this lack of unity depresses the base GOP vote is not clear.

While Illinois has no Senate race in 2018, in Indiana, Donnelly is in a fight with GOP nominee Mike Braun. The Indiana seat is one that may determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate.

Trump has already stumped for Braun and will be in Indianapolis on Friday and Fort Wayne on Monday.