Hindsight 2020? Kendall Democrats seek to build on changing in-county voting trends

Although the 2020 general election proved bitter fruit for some local Democratic Party candidates who fell short of victory last November, one lesson is clear: Kendall County continues to trend away from its historic Republican roots.

Between the 2016 and 2020 elections, Democrats gained ground in more Kendall County voter precincts than Republicans, according to a new interactive map from the New York Times. The biggest gains were recorded in blooming, diverse subdivisions in Oswego and Montgomery, although large swaths of the county’s rural southern half also trended away from former President Donald Trump by large margins.

“I think what it speaks to is Kendall County is changing and it has a more diverse citizenship now,” said Julie Gondar, chairwoman of the Kendall County Democratic Party.

The largest swings toward the left side of the aisle came in two subdivisions. Victoria Meadows near Route 34 and Douglas Road in Oswego and Lakewood Springs off Route 34 in Plano shifted from Trump to Biden by 22% and 17%, respectively.

“The fact that Biden won in Kendall by 52% is a huge, huge win for us,” Gondar said.

Yet the forecast turns less rosy when looking at last fall’s local elections. Republican Circuit Clerk Matt Prochaska won a similar percentage of the vote as Biden in one of the few partisan countywide races. Additionally, Democrats lost a seat on the Kendall County Board.

Gondar attributes these shortcomings to partisan misinformation and self-imposed limitations on in-person campaigning because of the pandemic. Although she added that her party performed well in precincts where they did little campaigning, such as Na-Au-Say Township, which swung away from Trump by large margins.

On the Republican side, county chairman Jim Marter said his party’s candidates held on thanks to a unified message and general opposition to pandemic restrictions.

“In the past, a lot of our candidates went on their own. They’re not really working together,” Marter said. “It was really working as a team of candidates and working together – advertising from a party perspective.”

Marter also sees an opportunity in the county’s resounding opposition to the state’s failed “Fair Tax” amendment that garnered a little less than 40% of the vote.

“We definitely need to message more to those points,” Marter said. “What you tend to see in the long run is people are going to vote their pocketbooks. That’s why we’ve got to get better at explaining who we are and what we’re all about.”

The referendum vote spells out an interesting scenario for Democrats, who, in their swelling of support likely picked up many moderate and conservative residents. In the Victoria Meadows subdivision, which had the highest swing for Biden, 57% of voters also rejected the progressive tax measure. Down the street in the Churchill subdivision, another new Democratic stronghold, 55% voted against the amendment.

“I think what’s sad is that people voted against their own interest,” said former County Board member Audra Hendrix, who lost her seat last November. “You cannot continue to be disgusted by how much income tax the state is taking from you when you vote against putting the biggest burden on the people who literally won’t feel the physical impact.”

For Hendrix, a future Kendall County run by Democrats could see a boost in infrastructure and a greater hand in local economic development.

“Contrary to popular belief, taxes aren’t going to go up just because there’s Democrats in charge,” Hendrix said. “I think you would see more concentration on services to citizens.”

Despite their gains in 2020, Gondar said the party has struggled to recruit candidates for this April’s general municipal election. As for 2022, she said the contest already is shaping up to be a “really, really intense election cycle for everyone.”

“Our most important focus right now for the next two years is really working in the community and being more vocal about the things our candidates and our members are doing to support the [community] at large,” Gondar said. “We don’t have three heads. We’re not here to destroy anything. We’re really here to try and fight for proper representation for every single person who lives in Kendall County.”