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State Week: Democrats leave the convention energized

State Week 23 logo (capitol dome)
Brian Mackey
/
NPR Illinois

The Democratic National Convention in Chicago appears to have accomplished its goal. It got the party faithful fired up about the Harris/Walz ticket. There were no major problems. In Illinois, police were lauded for the way protests were handled and several politicians were able to raise their profiles. A former Illinois Republican congressman was given prime stage time and Gov. J.B. Pritzker successfully avoided questions about his political future.

Our panel recaps the DNC and where the race goes from here. Host Sean Crawford is joined by Professor Emeritus Charlie Wheeler and WBEZ reporter Dave McKinney.

The former director of the Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) graduate program is Professor Charles N. Wheeler III, a veteran newsman who came to the University of Illinois at Springfield following a 24-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Dave McKinney, state politics reporter at WBEZ, spent 19 years as the Chicago Sun-Times Springfield bureau chief with additional stops at Reuters and the Daily Herald. His work also has been published in Crain’s Chicago Business, the New York Times and Chicago Magazine.
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