NORMAL — Students at Illinois State University were called to hit the polls this November and push politics "forward, not backwards."

“Now is the time to push people to vote,” Delaney Reynolds told a crowd Thursday afternoon at a rally with the ISU College Democrats. “Push people with your knowledge and your education. Today is the day.”

Reynolds, a junior at ISU and president of the College Democrats, was joined by about 50 spectators and several Democratic candidates and elected officials.

“We’re going to be victory-izing on Nov. 5,” said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. “I can’t wait.”

Krishnamoorthi, who is running for reelection against Republican Mark Rice, said organizers like Delaney are doing a terrific job energizing and mobilizing voters.

He shared several priorities and values that he said are on the ballot this year: supporting public education, reproductive health care rights, common sense gun laws, fighting climate change, and comprehensive, legal immigration.

“America has to be a place where everyone should be able to realize their God-given potential, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of how they pray, where they come from, whom they love or the number of letters in their name,” Krishnamoorthi said. “There are 29 in mine.”

U.S. Rep Eric Sorensen also spoke Thursday, recounting his experience as a TV meteorologist in Texas, Rockford and the Quad Cities.

Sorensen represents Illinois 17th Congressional District and is up for reelection against Republican Joe McGraw in November. He told the crowd, in 2022, he was the state’s first LGBTQ representative elected to Congress.

But years ago, his boss in east Texas once told him “We can’t have a homosexual on television here,” Sorensen said.

"Then after 11 years of working in my hometown, I found a job in the Quad Cities and my partner of 10 years, Shawn," he said. "I found that it didn’t matter where I lived. We were welcomed with open arms.”

Sorensen said, in this election, "the other side wants to take us back,” to a time when women didn’t have bodily autonomy, gay people couldn’t marry and “trans people are being oppressed out of existence.”

He told students gathered in the Quad, “We can choose our destiny, when we use our voice and vote.”

As a mother of two daughters, state Rep. Sharon Chung said she was proud to convey the message “bans off our bodies” in voice and through the message of the T-shirt she wore.

“It terrifies me. … they’re growing up in a world today where they have fewer rights than I did when I was their age,” Chung said, referring to her children.

Chung, of Bloomington, represents Illinois 91st House District; she is up for reelection, running against Republican Desi Anderson in the November election.

She said the Democratic Party is always behind reproductive freedom.

State Sen. Dave Koehler, of Peoria, called Chung “rookie of the year" in terms of legislators, noting she is serving her first term in the Statehouse.

“But after Nov. 5, she’s gonna be a rookie no more. She’s gonna be a seasoned legislature,” said Koehler, who is also running for reelection this November, challenged by Republican Sally Owens.

Koehler said the 1980s was the last time Bloomington-Normal had Democratic statehouse representation. He said he hopes the Twin Cities will now see “good things can happen” with Democratic lawmakers in Springfield.

Patrick Cortesi, chairman of the McLean County Democratic Party, told attendees Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Dick Durbin had also rallied on Schroeder Plaza at ISU in the 2022 midterm elections. He said Pritzker won McLean County by about 750 votes in that election.

“After that event two years ago, over 1,000 students registered and voted right over there at Bone Student Center,” Cortesi said.

“It is by no stretch of imagination that the students here at ISU gave Gov. Pritzker his victory here in McLean County,” he said, adding the students might have brought Sorensen, Koehler and Chung to victory, too.

Cortesi said there was good energy at the rally and in this election cycle, especially since Vice President Kamala Harris became the presidential nominee.

“We’ve been swamped at our headquarters,” Cortesi told The Pantagraph in an interview after the rally. “We’ve had hundreds of people sign up to volunteer and ask what they can do to help. And we’re making sure that that energy is working top to bottom, all the way through the ballot.”

Alex Duffy, a 22-year-old senior who is studying political science at ISU, is running unopposed as a Democratic candidate for McLean County Board District 6. 

“We have a lot of opportunity to make our wishes heard,” he said, telling the rally that ISU’s student population is just over 10% of McLean County’s total population.

In an interview, he said issues that are important to his district are getting more planned labor agreements made and adding mental health resources to the county.

“Specifically, District 6 residents, students, people who I think could really benefit from it,” Duffy said of his latter platform point.

After the rally, Samuel McCleary, a junior political science student and membership relations director for the College Democrats, said the organization has had a table on the Quad weekly, pushing people to register to vote.

He said they want to make sure students know how to register because that information is not always made clear to high school graduates.

“Whichever way you’re voting … we believe it’s important that you vote, that you make your voice heard,” McCleary said.

He said he’s reached out to a lot of his high school friends, especially those who live in swing states.

“Your vote is going to alter the course the country,” McClearly said.

In an interview, Reynolds said she has told other young voters every vote counts. She said Gen Z is really involved in this election, and she sees that on the ISU campus.

“Mostly, young females are ready to be in the polls this year because they are on the ballot,” Reynolds said. “It’s not just legislation, it’s just not just candidates, it’s their rights.”