Enter Chicago Urban League President Andrea Zopp, who has announced her candidacy and turned the Illinois Democratic Senate primary upside down.
The Daily Herald reports:
Chicago Urban League CEO Andrea Zopp will run for U.S. Senate in 2016, a spokesman said, setting up a primary race for the Democratic nomination with U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.
Zopp’s bid would add an African American candidate to the Democratic primary ballot to compete for a seat once held by President Barack Obama.
The Illinois Observer highlights a recent poll of Democratic primary voters, showing Duckworth with a clear upper hand, but some Democratic party insiders still question Duckworth:
Some insiders think that Democrats need an African-American at the top of the Illinois ticket in 2016 in order to motivate black voters to the polls and they fret that Duckworth, who ran a centrist campaign in her failed first bid for Congress in 2006 against U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), will fail to ignite enthusiasm among the Democratic base.
Democrats are also discussing the very real possibility of yet another Senate primary contender, according to Chicago Sun-Times:
It’s war . . .
Sneed hears rumbles State Sen. Jackie Collins, who has been in office since 2003, is eyeing a jump into the Dem primary for GOPer U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s seat.
• Upshot: The news comes before the imminent announcement of a bid for Kirk’s job by Chicago Urban League President and CEO Andrea Zopp, a former first assistant state’s attorney with blue ribbon Dem backing.
With an increasingly-crowded Democratic primary field, it’s time to ask: Is Tammy Duckworth ready for a fight?