Politics: Jehan Gordan for the 92nd Illinois House
When Aaron Schock decided to abandon his spot in the Illinois House of Representatives months after winning re-election, there was already a very viable candidate being groomed to take him on in 2008.
Today, that woman announced her candidacy … without having an face an incumbent, and without any announced opposition in either the primary or general election.
Jehan Gordon, current member of the Pleasant Hill School District 69Â board of education, announced she is running to replace Schock. She was surrounded by friends and family, as well as local political leaders including State Sen. Dave Koehler, former State Sen. George Shadid, County Board member Lynn Scott Pearson, Peoria School District 150 member Martha Ross and Peoria County Democratic Party Chair Billy Halstead.
She worked on the campaigns of both Koehler and Senator Barack Obama. She also attended a two-week camp run sponsored by Obama to encourage young people to get involved in their communities.
Koehler thinks Gordon’s a better fit for the district than Schock has been. Being a member of a minority helps her understand the needs of the entire district, as does her job as Diversity Retention Coordinator at Illinois Central College. She’s a 1996 graduate of Limestone Community High School, which sends a message that “it’s not just about Peoria. It’s about the whole district.”
“I have no doubt that’s going to be a super elected official,” he said. She’s also the daughter of Annie Jo Gordon, a long time activist with the Tri-County Urban League.
Halstead said party organizers approached her not long after the last election to convince her to run. It was felt that her age and energy would make her the perfect candidate to run against Schock. And she had agreed to run months before Schock decided to run for Congress, making him ineligible to run for the General Assembly.
As of right now, no one else has declared for the seat in either the Democratic or Republican parties. Peoria County Board member Jimmy Dillon was considering a run, but told Halstead last night he was not. Democrat Allen Mayer is reportedly considering a run. Gordon’s supporters told me that Mayer was one of the Democrats who met with her to convince her to get in the race in the first place.
Judging from her speech, she’s planning to make education the big issue in her campaign.
“I’ve been out knocking on hundreds and hundreds of doors,” the attractive 26-year-old told the audience standing outside the rocket statue at the front of LCHS. “Right now, the people don’t feel that they have a voice in Springfield.”
Voters are telling her that that want their children to receive the same education as children in Dunlap, Metamora and Washington.
“Where students live should not affect the quality of education they receive,” she said.
I talked to her for about 5-10 minutes after the event was over. If there’s one thing she wants to see come to an end, it’s the schools’ dependence on property taxes and state aid. My observation is that if the most recent state legislative session revealed anything, it’s that what the state giveth, it can take away.
My two cents: Electoral politics being what they are, Gordon is a great candidate.
Lets face it: One of the reasons Schock was able to win in the heavily Democratic 92nd was that he actively campaigned in the minority community and was able to get endorsements from some leaders in the black community.
I just cannot see any white opponent scooping up those sorts of endorsements. And I don’t seeing anyone outworking her. I count Schock’s last opponent — Peoria City Council member Bill Spears — as a friend, his campaign relied too much on help from out-of-towners like House Speaker Mike Madigan. Gordon’s campaign will be much more “grass roots.”
And if the GOP manages to get a viable candidate willing to run against her, they won’t be able to whine about how young she is. She’s older than Schock was when he first ran.
And while Schock talked like a moderate in the district, he was a darling of the conservatives in Springfield. Koehler says that Gordon will talk and act the same whether at home at the state capital.
If I were a betting man, I’d put the rent money on Jehan Gordon being the next state representative for the 92nd District.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Billy, good thing you’re not a betting man. Although I’m betting that your rent isn’t all that high. This is probably the worst choice the Democrats could make for a candidate. The minority vote is rarely a strong one, and this young lady would likely not appeal to much more than the minorities. She has no name recognition, no political track record other than working for other people’s campaigns… she is an easy target. It makes me sort of sick to think of a Republican picking this seat up after Aaron leaves… but it looks like that will happen. Once more, proving that the Illinois Democrats are, unfortunately, completely out of touch with their constituents, especially in the 92nd. Bleeeeeeeeeech.
R-i-i-i-ght. A smart, young, attractive woman with the backing of her party’s leaders in a district that leans in favor of her party cannot possibly win a race in which the other party hasn’t even bothered to field a candidate yet.
Nicely written news piece on top and two cents opinion seems dead on.
You must be having a good day, Billy.
She came to Monday’s Neighborhood Alliance meeting. I didn’t know who she was and wished she would have spoken up and introduced herself to people. She definately got to listen to a few hot topics. I am glad that she came. I have no idea what her qualifications are.
I do know Allen Mayer is running. He is the county board member for a large portion of my neighborhood association. I have found him to be responsive and helpful. He does know his way around the captitol and introduce me to several helpful people when the Alliance went down to Springfield in April t meet with legislators.
I know nothing about Jimmy Dillon other than he is the Mayor of W. Peoria’s son.
I do not have a line yet on a GOP candidate.
R-i-i-i-i-i-ght, Billy, no problem-oh. Just because Aaron won by 20% over a VERY well known local Democrat should be NO cause for alarm for a smart, young woman who NO ONE knows about (other than you, cause you JUST met her), so AUTOMATICALLY she’s a SHOO-IN cause you now KNOW her. Brilliant.
If Mayer stays in, he has a decent chance of beating her, because HE’S at least KNOWN. On top of that, if her BIG PLANK is gonna be education in 150, maybe she ought to run for the school board next time around. Because, Billy, a goodly chunk of the 92nd does not have kids in it headed for 150 at ANY time. So, r-i-i-i-i-i-ght… BRILLIANT platform plank… since YOU know her now, Billy, she’s headed for Springfield.
Yeah, r-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght.
Bleeeeeeeeech.
Okay, nobody else said it, I’ll say it. Why do you make a big point about Jehan Gordon being attractive but don’t make the same point about, say, Allen Mayer (who’s a preppy cutie)?
It’s just a TEENSY bit demeaning to read about the female candidates’ physical attractiveness as if that matters for them, but not for the men. Now, if you want to run an article about how looks and personal appeal affect elections, fine, but if you’re talking about issues, it’s a little bit offensive that the men get their issues and campaigns discussed, and the women get “She has good ideas – plus she’s hot.” Why do female candidates STILL have a hard time getting taken seriously? Oh, I know, we’re all waiting for them to pose for Maxim before they’re interesting enough to be worth listening to.
Eyebrows, male candidates’ physical appearance gets talked about, too. Their physique, their age, their stature — it’s all fair game. Remember all the jokes about how short Dukakis was? Or how about Kucinich and how funny he looks next to his tall model wife? Remember the issue of Bill Clinton’s weight? And what do you think people mean when they talk about a candidate “looking presidential”?
We live in an image-obsessed culture — you know that. You have to have certain physical qualities to be a viable candidate. Three-hundred-pound Taft would never get elected president in this day and age. Whether it’s fair or not (and it’s not), how a candidate looks is part of the equation.
Eyebrows: Honestly, the word “attractive” was used by her supporters in describing ONE of the reasons why she was recruited to run. She’s also smart , politically aware and deeply involved in improving the education of young people. I have not yet met Mr. Mayer, and for all I know he’s the male version of Ms. Jordan. If and when he announces, I’ll go and meet him.
As to whether I’m showing bias toward Ms. Gordon, I can only stress this enough: The blog is a part-time gig for me and I cannot devote the 40-50-60 hours a week to it I would like, which would give me time to interview everyone who is considering running for office.
“And what do you think people mean when they talk about a candidate “looking presidentialâ€?”
And as I said, if we’re talking about how image impacts campaigns, I don’t have a problem. I have a problem when women’s physical attributes are important in a campaign and men’s aren’t. Or when women’s looks are mentioned in every article and men’s aren’t. It’s really pernicious.
“the word “attractive†was used by her supporters”
Well then I have something of a beef with her supporters! What’s wrong with just calling her brilliant or something? Or leaving it at smart, politically aware, and deeply involved in improving education?
What I mean, Eyebrows, if that if the voters voters showed a tendency to vote for candidate with polka-dot horns growing out of their foreheads, they would find the most viable candidate they could with a polka-dot horn growing out of her forehead to run against him. One day we will start a country populated by people who base their votes entirely on issues like experience, character and policy. Until then, BOTH parties will respond to what the public wants. And I will report on it.
[...] is for Eyebrows McGee, who complains when I correctly identify a female candidate as being attractive, but still hollers for male GOP eye candy. [...]
“I have a problem when women’s physical attributes are important in a campaign and men’s aren’t.”
I don’t think that’s true, Eyebrows. If a male candidate is attractive, that gets mentioned, too. The reason you don’t hear about it more is because there aren’t that many attractive male candidates. You’ll notice that when Ricca Slone was running, no one mentioned her physical attributes. When the candidates aren’t physically attractive, their physical attributes don’t get mentioned. When they are attractive, their physical attributes do get mentioned.
Ms. Jordan sounds like a viable candidate. Some relatively loyal Democrats voted for Schrock, not for him, but rather against Spears. Sorry, Spears supporters. I do not know her, but I do know her mother, and if she has half the ethics and attitude of her mother, she will have my vote without hesitation. With the announcement and the supporters around her, she is known now. Personally, I don’t know Mr. Mayer or anything about him except what I read in the post above. I just hope that whichever Democrats run for State and National office are strong candidates and can pull the necessary votes to take the election. As far as “physical attributes”, I can only imagine that John Edwards would almost like to be bald!!!
“The reason you don’t hear about it more is because there aren’t that many attractive male candidates.”
Because men in public life aren’t held to the same standards of attractiveness as women in public life. That’s part of the problem I’m complaining about!
If you are going to say that Ms Gordon is attractive than dont forget some other hotties here in Peoria politics in not particular order:
1) Ryan Spain
2) Jim Ardis
3)Aaron Schock
4)Andrew Rand
5)G Allen Mayer
6)Paul Wilkinson
7)George Jacob
8)Bob Manning
9)Chief Settingsgard
10) Aaron Watkins
Remember Eyebrows you can hold a man for the same standard of attractiveness as in a woman, that’s why my list was of only the best.
LInk to PH school Dist does not list a Gordon on the Board. What gives?
She’s new. I called the school district and confirmed she is on the board.
woo hoo lets hear it for drunken, sight impaired people with severe head injuries……no offense to the others…….
Mr. Wilkinson
You are in the media enough that people drunk or sober have a right to there opinions be proud to be on the list…..hopefully all of the guys are smiling would take it as a big compliment….
To everyone else,
Remember all beauty is in the eyes of the beholder & as Ms. Gordon is a very attractive woman she will have to prove herself just as Aaron Schock
did when he ran for this seat…
[...] for the 92nd Illinois House. Ms. Gordon announced her run last week. Too bad there isn’t some sort of Web site where these sort of details could have been published without having to wait for this sort of [...]
What do you think of the list Eyebrows?
I don’t know most of the people on the list personally, only from newspaper photos. I think people never look as attractive in stills as they do in person (or sometimes even on video) because faces are so mobile and add so much beauty when they move.
I will say Chief Settingsgard’s pics make him look like a bit of a Hottie McHott, in a military sort of way, though.
I will concure that Chief Settingsgaard has a certain air of hotness about him. Along with his good looks, he’s intelligent, articulate and a man of power—all qualities that women find attractive. He should higher on the list.
What about a Top Ten for hottest/best looking local reporters?
okay Mr. Ahl…stop fishing for compliments lol
and Eyebrows, if you keep giving nicknames to all the guys I know, I’ll never be able to talk to them without snickering..haha
Paul,
It’s not Mr. Ahl fishing for compliments (seriously). I deal with the media weekly, and doing so, have come across some very attractive and some not so.
Just curious on what others think. If there’s going to be a top 10 hotties for political figues then why not those who report on them?
Anybody game?
Bill, I know you’re infatuated with some of them.
Sorry cant think of a top 10 hot list for the reporters for you in the know…unless they are male of course… remember in the know the list was in no particular order but momma didnt raise no fool when it came to listing them a hottie is a hottie no matter where they are on the list. Sorry Montelongo is not GQ enough to be on the list either so George Jacob stays on the list…
[...] bunch of adults who enjoy pushing a kid around. NOTE: No, this is NOT the school district on which Jehan Gordon serves on the school board. That’s Pleasant [...]