2022 Impact Report
I could not WAIT to put together this year end review. 2022 marked our second full year as a new ward organization and Wowie Kazowie did we deliver.
When you are in the thick of election season, it's hard to see the big picture of the incredible work neighbors are putting in day-to-day to ensure democracy is protected. So this year end impact report partially serves as a personal reminder that what we do matters for our community at large.
Scroll to see some of the highlights of this year and the impact you had on your own community.
Two Elections, One Democracy
The 40th Ward Dems endorsed 37 candidates in the Midterm Primary - the highest number of candidates we’ve supported thus far as a new organization. Of those 37 candidates, 87% went on to win their primary!
Most candidates who ran to represent the 40th Ward who did not win their overall election did win the hearts of the 40th Ward which tells us this:
Our messaging is strong
Voters our listening to our endorsements
Our organization is making a huge impact in outreach!
As predicted, this midterm election did not have as many voters as we had in 2018, but the 40th Ward became the 8th highest turnout ward in the city of Chicago! We are super proud of everyone who put in such energy in this election. Thank you!
TURNOUT IN THE 40TH WARD - MIDTERM PRIMARY
2022 - 27.54%
2018 - 34.57%
2014 - 10.35%
Fundraising
To date, we have raised over $25,000 this year from over 125 donors with an average donation of $115. We are truly a people-powered organization!
Help us close our books by making a contribution today!
The majority of funds went to sending endorsement mailers to voters who needed the extra push to get out and vote. We spent $1500 on both the Primary and General election on feeding our election judges, we hired poll workers for the Primary, and kept the lights and WiFi on at the campaign office.
Look who our funds come from and where they go here.
Events
The 40th Ward Dems hosts the BEST parties!
We held our Annual Meeting this year at Smylie Brothers Brewing in Bowmanville and had special guests Rep. Greg Harris, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, and Treasurer Frerichs along with other local elected officials.
In early December, we hosted our annual Holiday Party at the new Whiskey Girl Tavern in West Edgewater and had an incredible turnout with a Silent Auction where we fundraised over an additional $2,000 to support our efforts heading into the Municipal Elections on February 28!
The 40th Ward Dems had a strong start to the new year gathering petition signatures for our endorsed candidates. We completely filled Cafe ZoZo in Lincoln Square and gathered thousands of signatures for candidates up and down the ballot. Because petition season was moved to the winter, we had to be very innovative when it came to collecting signatures. We hosted petition pop up events outside of Beans and Bagels and inside Rattleback Records, too! Overall, the 40th Ward Dems did a great job collecting signatures for our most local elected officials and candidates.
Giving Back
This year, the 40th Ward Dems hosted THREE mutual aid drives for organizations including Cornerstone Community Outreach, World Relief Chicago, and Brave Space Alliance. We also partnered with the West Ridge Community Response Team to help pay off energy bills for refugee families and other community members who needed the extra help this holiday season. We are SO PROUD of all of our incredible volunteers and donors who made an impact on our community.
Additional Highlights!
We opened a political office! And our fabulous volunteers Joy and Robert kept those doors open to register voters, talk about the important Midterm Primary, and overall made our organization accessible and responsible to the community across the north side!
Committeewoman O’Keefe was appointed to the Secretary of State’s Transition Team for Environmental Initiatives. In her meetings, she pushed to make the internal operations of the 38 offices to be more environmentally friendly, including environmental education and opportunities for the 4,500+ employees to be engaged through composting, recycling, and other environmental initiatives.
Onward to 2023 & 2024
With the 2023 Municipal and likely Runoff coming full steam ahead, we are looking to engage voters to keep the momentum going from the 2019 election. In 2019, the 40th Ward saw a 27% increase in voter turnout. This will be hard to maintain. But we will continue as an organization to inform voters.
Let’s talk about warmer days ahead. The 40th Ward Dems is looking to recruit people to run as Delegates for the 2024 Presidential Election! The DNC will be hosted in Chicago in 2024 and what better way to engage community members than by having them learn the process of running to get on the ballot. If you are interested in running as a Biden Delegate, please hit reply to this email.
I am beyond grateful to each of you for being a partner to the 40th Ward Dems. It is an honor to serve in this capacity - I truly love this work to my core. I look forward to working with all of you to meet my campaign promise - Top 5 turnout ward in the city of Chicago. We have much work to do to get there, but together we can make these goals a reality.