With Chicago’s Democratic National Convention wrapping up, Illinois delegates begin pivoting to what will be a bruising election.

But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear stressed bipartisanship Thursday at the contingent’s final breakfast caucus.

“It seems like the last eight years — every day has been an ‘us vs. them,’ a boiling point in our country where we’ve been asked to pick a side on everything from the car you drive to the beer you drink. Somehow beer got political,” Beshear commented to laughter.

“We are not each others enemies,” he said, adding it was time “to end the anger politics, once and for all.”

Beshear also gave props to vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz who addressed the DNC Wednesday.

“Don’t we deserve a vice president who has been a classroom teacher?” Beshear asked. “He’s been a coach, and while all that’s impressive, he has also been a lunchroom monitor. Sometimes in Congress I think we can use a lunchroom monitor helping us out.”

Cook County Board Chair Toni Preckwinkle said the ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz means Democrats can do more than “say ‘no’ to Trump.”

“What better way to show our girls and young woman that they can and should be involved and run for office than see a smart, tough, thoughtful woman of color fighting for them in the White House?”

But that won’t come without hard work, Preckwinkle said, recalling sticking stamps on envelopes while working on campaigns at age 16.

“Now, there’s fewer stamps and envelopes but a lot of doors to knock on. We need the turnout at home and we need to work with our neighbors in Michigan and Wisconsin to deliver those swing states.”

Delegate Yasmeen Bankole, a Hanover Park trustee, said one take-away from the DNC was “the Democrats are fired up and ready to put in the work to elect our next president and vice president.

“I think this convention also reminds us of the historical nature of this nomination, but also all the things we stand to lose if (Harris) does not become president.”

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza spoke to those concerns, particularly abortion rights. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 after Trump appointees created a conservative super majority.

“Donald Trump has led a full-on assault on our reproductive rights,” she said. “No one, especially that guy, should have anything to say about what we can do with our uteruses.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin pronounced the convention a success, and took issue with GOP vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance for comparing Chicago to a “third-world country” this week.

There’s been numerous protests during the four-day event, including breaching of a security fence that resulted in numerous arrests Monday.

“First, I salute the law enforcement officials,” Durbin said. “I’ll admit to you, I was holding my breath because I was not sure what was going to happen … I understand what can happen with demonstrators … but we have had an excellent convention and my hat is off to those who planned it.”

CHICAGO (CBS)—Asian American representation in politics is on the rise across the nation, credited in part to the Illinois Asian American Caucus.

The caucus hosted an event on Wednesday to celebrate how much growth Asian American communities have seen in Illinois politics.

Vice President Harris is the first Asian American woman to become a presidential nominee, and now the caucus says it’s prepared to put every effort behind Harris for a win.

Just a few blocks away from where the DNC is happening, McCormick Place and the United Center is the only Chinatown in the country that’s still growing, and across Illinois, Asian American political representation is growing right along with it.

“We have grown the Asian American caucus from 0 to 17 members in just eight years, and a state that is only 7% Asian American, we’re so proud,” Cook Country Commissioner Josia Morita said.

Morita is a founding member and chair of the Illinois Asian American Caucus.

“There’s a saying that you’re either at the table or on the menu, and we’re so excited that our community, for the first time in this last decade, has really come to the table,” she said. 

Over 200 DNC-goers and community members came to the table for dim sum and to learn how the caucus has managed to grow — hearing from a panel of Illinois politicians headlined by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

“This community is vibrant and critically important to Chicago’s economic well-being and cultural well-being, and so, I’m really proud of the work that we’ve been able to do here,” Duckworth said. 

“We are in so many races around the country, the margin of victory, and so many of the battleground states, and so, we’re going to get out there and work hard to have some more victories this November.”

The Asian American Caucus plans to mobilize its efforts in this year’s presidential election, not only in Illinois but across the Midwest, into neighboring states as well.

“We’re going to go up into Wisconsin. We’re going to go over to Ohio, we’re going to get races across the finish line in all of these states, especially in the Midwest,” Duckworth said. 

For many members of the caucus, pushing Harris to the White House isn’t just political. It’s personal.

“So often, Asian Americans are seen as others that we don’t truly belong here. I still get asked where I’m from, and I’m a daughter of the American Revolution, you know,” Duckworth said. 

“For me as a mom, my kids are Asian American and Black, and so I’m so excited to bring my four-year-old Blasian daughter on the floor to watch this historic moment here in our hometown on Thursday night, you know, to show that there’s a place for them and that they don’t have to choose,” Morita said. 

The Democratic National Convention is more than halfway done. And long nights of lavish after-parties, coupled with 8 a.m. rallies over breakfast every morning, had Illinois delegates bleary-eyed Wednesday.

But the speakers at Wednesday’s breakfast event brought the energy – and the saltiness, with many attacking former president Donald Trump.

🎧 In this audio story, WBEZ reporter Mawa Iqbal hears from:

• Bob Reiter, head of the Chicago Federation of Labor
• Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, who is a top surrogate for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris
• Eric Dean, head of the international ironworkers union, who took the Trump attacks to a profane level.
• Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO coalition of labor unions, who belittled the Republican National Convention.
• Reverend Raphael Warnock, U.S. Senator of Georgia, who spoke of civil rights icon John Lewis.

Mawa Iqbal covers state government and politics for WBEZ. Follow her @mawa_iqbal.