Victory in Illinois leaves Maryland Democrats confident

This past weekend, Bill Foster (D-IL) defeated fellow businessman Jim Oberweis (R-IL) in a special congressional election to fill the seat vacated by former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, a Republican.

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Kensington), who happens to be the Chairman of the 2008 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told the Associated Press that Foster’s victory would send out “a political shockwave.”

“The message to Republican candidates is that John McCain's not going to be able to save you in this election,” Van Hollen said.

McCain had helped Oberweis with fundraising prior to Saturday’s special election in Illinois’s 14th Congressional District.

With the victory in a traditional Republican stronghold in Illinois, Maryland Democrats are confident that their candidates, such as Frank Kratovil in the first district, and Jennifer Dougherty in the sixth district, can win in November. Those seats have long been held be Republicans.

“This is a very significant sign of things to come in Maryland,” Michael Cryor, Chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said in a statement.

“Even Republican voters are saying they’ve had enough and they’re not going to take it anymore, Cryor added. “We have two very strong candidates in Maryland’s first and sixth districts. Frank Kratovil and Jennifer Dougherty have proven themselves to Democrats, Republicans and Independents in past elections and in public service. Maryland voters, in what some call ‘Republican’ districts, now have real choices for the change they seek.”

Nationally, Republicans disagreed that the Democratic victory in Illinois was a sign of things to come.

“The one thing 2008 has shown is that one election in one state does not prove a trend,” Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Karen Hanretty said in a statement.