Peickert wins third term at helm of DuPage Democrats

Elmhurst resident Bob Peickert, 67, survived a challenge to his seat and will serve a third term as chairman of the Democratic Party of DuPage County.

Two hundred precinct committee representatives, each with a weighted vote, re-elected Peickert over Downers Grove Township Democratic Organization Chairwoman Kim Savage by a vote of 5,880 to 3,569 Wednesday night.

“There are no losers. We won unity in this organization because I am going to work closely with Kim as I know she will with me,” Peickert said. “I want to thank Kim for running. She made us all think about what we want for this organization over the next two years. That’s going to be a tremendous help to us as we get Democrats elected in November and we turn this county from red to purple to eventually blue.”

Peickert first won the seat in 2008, as the leader of Operation Turn DuPage Blue, when he handily defeated incumbent chairman Rob Bisceglie.

“Over the last four years, our organization has moved to a point where it is fiscally sound and we have several committees set up to do the work of this organization,” he said. “We’re not only positioned in November to change DuPage from the reddest county in the country to a county that will elect maybe three congressional Democrats, eight state Senate and House members and hopefully will elect numerous county board, forest preserve and countywide Democrats.”

Savage, also a College of DuPage trustee, pledged during her brief campaign to bring brand recognition and draw voters and members to the local party.

“We suffer from a lack of prepared leadership and our bench isn’t deep enough,” Savage said just before the vote. “We need to work on that and we need to build up the township organizations more strongly so people can rise up from that.”

She also predicted the county Republican party would elect DuPage Regional Schools Superintendent Darlene Ruscitti.

“She’s a well-respected female leader and she will draw Democratic and independent women in state and local races,” Savage said. “Why give her an advantage?”