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Against all odds (Ilya Sheyman comes up short)
Against all odds
Written by: Michael Langenmayr on Mar 21, 2012 7:17 PM EDT
Members and Ilya Supporters:
The votes have been counted in IL-10 and our friend and colleague, Ilya Sheyman, has come up short.
Obviously, all of our members who supported his campaign from the beginning, all of those folks in Illinois who volunteered countless hours and those of you who made contributions to help his campaign felt like we had a lot riding on this one. We did. But we can’t forget that Ilya is truly one of us. He started off as a long shot candidate that no one knew and he didn’t rely on personal wealth to fund his campaign. He has worked alongside us not just as the candidate for IL-10 district, but also as a part of the progressive movement in many different roles -- at MoveOn, at True Majority, and even here at DFA.
After last night’s loss which stings, trust me it does, it’s important to take a minute and reflect - to look out and see that Ilya and his campaign did something amazing last night, despite coming up short.
Last year at about this time, no one thought Ilya could do what he did last night. No one. He had no money, no name recognition and no infrastructure of any kind to lean on for support. He was just 24 years old and he was running against a super rich candidate who could just throw his own money into the race to buy the support he needed. Ilya’s campaign was far different. Ilya’s campaign proved that.
Over the course of the past year, Ilya proved to be a fantastic candidate and put together a powerful grassroots campaign. Not only was he standing up for the 99 percent, he was speaking truth to power and making a believer out of many in the communities he’d represent. Ilya had to work for every dollar, every volunteer, and every vote. He had to build everything from scratch. That’s what the progressive grassroots movement is about - believing in something enough that you fight and give it your all. Even when you’re up against the wall or the entire Democratic establishment.
Last night, a candidate with no name recognition a year ago received close to 40 percent of the vote, established himself as a viable alternative to the establishment’s choice and forced him to move to the left on every single issue -- from Medicare to marriage equality.
DFA and our members were a huge part of that. His first volunteers came from our local group, Northside DFA. His first local endorsement came from that same group. We were the first national organization to come out for him and Gov. Howard Dean was the first major political figure to endorse.
Our members weren’t afraid to lead and take a chance on Ilya and neither were we. We entered this race because where others saw a guy with little chance, our members had the insight and the convictions to see his potential to become a truly great candidate.
It takes guts to put yourself out there as a candidate running for Congress. It takes talent to build something from nothing. Ilya Sheyman did both those things -- and that -- that is the lesson from last night’s loss. Ilya, thank you for inspiring our members and DFA to join in the fight alongside you.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/37858-against-all-odds
Written by: Michael Langenmayr on Mar 21, 2012 7:17 PM EDT
Members and Ilya Supporters:
The votes have been counted in IL-10 and our friend and colleague, Ilya Sheyman, has come up short.
Obviously, all of our members who supported his campaign from the beginning, all of those folks in Illinois who volunteered countless hours and those of you who made contributions to help his campaign felt like we had a lot riding on this one. We did. But we can’t forget that Ilya is truly one of us. He started off as a long shot candidate that no one knew and he didn’t rely on personal wealth to fund his campaign. He has worked alongside us not just as the candidate for IL-10 district, but also as a part of the progressive movement in many different roles -- at MoveOn, at True Majority, and even here at DFA.
After last night’s loss which stings, trust me it does, it’s important to take a minute and reflect - to look out and see that Ilya and his campaign did something amazing last night, despite coming up short.
Last year at about this time, no one thought Ilya could do what he did last night. No one. He had no money, no name recognition and no infrastructure of any kind to lean on for support. He was just 24 years old and he was running against a super rich candidate who could just throw his own money into the race to buy the support he needed. Ilya’s campaign was far different. Ilya’s campaign proved that.
Over the course of the past year, Ilya proved to be a fantastic candidate and put together a powerful grassroots campaign. Not only was he standing up for the 99 percent, he was speaking truth to power and making a believer out of many in the communities he’d represent. Ilya had to work for every dollar, every volunteer, and every vote. He had to build everything from scratch. That’s what the progressive grassroots movement is about - believing in something enough that you fight and give it your all. Even when you’re up against the wall or the entire Democratic establishment.
Last night, a candidate with no name recognition a year ago received close to 40 percent of the vote, established himself as a viable alternative to the establishment’s choice and forced him to move to the left on every single issue -- from Medicare to marriage equality.
DFA and our members were a huge part of that. His first volunteers came from our local group, Northside DFA. His first local endorsement came from that same group. We were the first national organization to come out for him and Gov. Howard Dean was the first major political figure to endorse.
Our members weren’t afraid to lead and take a chance on Ilya and neither were we. We entered this race because where others saw a guy with little chance, our members had the insight and the convictions to see his potential to become a truly great candidate.
It takes guts to put yourself out there as a candidate running for Congress. It takes talent to build something from nothing. Ilya Sheyman did both those things -- and that -- that is the lesson from last night’s loss. Ilya, thank you for inspiring our members and DFA to join in the fight alongside you.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/37858-against-all-odds
U.S. House - District 10 - Dem Primary
419 of 419 Precincts Reporting - 100%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Schneider, Brad 15,430 47%
Sheyman, Ilya 2,688 39%
Tree, John 2,904 9%
Bavda, Vivek 1,864 6%
Chicago Sun-Times
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
...that's for sure. Props to Northside DFA 
