Kevin Lamm of Rock City is seeking a state party position as the Democratic state central committeeman for Illinois’ 16th Congressional District. The seat is currently held by John Daniel, who is not seeking re-election.
Each congressional district in the state has two central committeemen, who work as the governing body of the state party. The 34 members elect the executive director and chair of the state party.
Lamm is retired and serves as vice chair of the Stephenson Democratic Party. He said his political career spans at least 40 years from student politics to chief of staff positions and even his own campaigns. Bloomington’s Patrick Cortesi, chair of the McLean County Democratic Party, has also announced his candidacy for the position.
Lamm has traveled to Bloomington and Central Illinois a few times in the last month to introduce himself to the parts of the district which are not familiar with him. He said it was an important first step to familiarize himself with voters across the district, especially after he never even met John Daniel.
“We have to spend time to be down here … this is where I think I differ from the past person who held this position,” Lamm said. “We’re a fairly active party in Stephenson County, [Daniel]’s had the position for four years, we’ve sent him invitations for lots of stuff and he’s never come to our county one time that I’m aware of. That has to change.”’
Lamm said the state party needs to keep changing as well. Particularly, it needs to find consistent candidates to run as Democrats, otherwise the reputation of the party is diminished.
“The state hasn’t always been very helpful, the state party. In the past it was just turn the keys over to the speaker or whoever is the biggest dog in the party, and they run the stuff that they want to,” he said. “There’s been a big change on that, and the state party now helps you find candidates.”
Lamm said there have been too many past elections where there is no Democratic candidate running.
“It’s the case all over the state, especially in 16th District where its very Republican and people have a hard climb to be able to get on the ballot, to know what to do,” he said. “Just finding a candidate is the first big challenge.”
The reliably red district is represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood.
The other challenge for the 16th District is fundraising. Lamm said more money being allocated to candidates in Republican strongholds would be “huge.”
“We have had up and down support. It’s almost eight years ago now when [Governor] Pritzker was first running, it was probably more his money, but it came as Democratic party help, to support those local parties,” he said.
Lamm said the Stephenson County Democrats used their money from Pritzker’s first gubernatorial run to rent an office building, a notable asset to any small party.
“Having a brick-and-mortar place where you can meet any time all the time, have signs up, have information up has been huge for the success and the increased surge in success in Stephenson County,” Lamm said.
When it comes to the results of those candidates, Lamm said in a deep red district, “it’s a low bar then.” He said even the smallest victory makes progress for the party, and make sure those areas are not written off as hopeless for them.
“[Illinois State Treasurer] Mike Frerichs came up to Stephenson County a year and a half ago and had a great message of people in those areas, they kind of walk around and they say, ‘Oh, I see you’re a Democrat, I’m a Democrat too,’” Lamm said. “Instead, we shouldn’t be whispering that thing, we should be proclaiming it.”
Furthermore, Lamm said the success of even just one district is the success of the entire party. He said it is an argument he would use to other committeeman when it comes time for everyone to get their slice of the pie.
“Raising each place a little bit is helpful to anybody running for U.S. Senate, anybody running for statewide tickets,” he said. “We’re in a good place right now, but it wasn’t that long ago we had a Republican governor, we don’t want to go back to that.”
Lamm said the state Democratic party also needs to continue its resistance of the Trump administration, and the state central committeemen need to have clear communication with local parties to continue their efforts.
“There should be a direct communication between that central body and the legislature, right now they are scrambling to try to figure out, and they clearly know there’s no way that they’re going to be able to fill the gap for all federal resources that are taken away,” said Lamm. “We’re going to have to do the best we can and having those local people on the ground, knowing what’s getting hurt, is going to be really essential to know what do we need to do to fix what we can.”
John Daniel has endorsed Patrick Cortesi for the seat, but Lamm has received endorsements from current and former elected officials in the Rockford area, according to his website.
The race for Democratic State Central Committeeman will be decided in the primary election on March 17, 2026.
