Can Senator Durbin win his relection in 2020 ?
Senator Dick Durbin is facing relection in 2020. He is raising money and preparing a solid campaign. This is generally considered a safe seat for Democrats.
Year 2020 however might be different and Senator Durbin might face an uphill task. COVID19 has badly affected IL like all other states but Senator’s inapt leadership has become a talk of town.
“I am very upset with the behavior of Senator Durbin. Disagreements are common in politics but mocking people who have come to you to present their views seemed very insensitive. Senator Durbin is not progressive but reflect the old white parochial order of democratic party” — Neela (An immigrant activists working for legal immigrant issues and DACA)
Accusations of racism against Indian people
Senator Durbin faces serious accusations of racism against legal immigrants of Indian background. Senator Durbin first blocked senate bill S386 which was aimed at eliminating country of birth discrimination against Indians in USA. This law was a remnant of Chinese Exclusion act.
S386 was a bipartisan law and had passed in house with record number of votes. Championed by Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Democrat Kamala Harris of California this bill would have passed easily if it was not for surprise block by Senator Durbin.
Rand Paul and Chuck Grassley had blocked the bill in past but they were clear about their intentions and groups they were trying to protect. Rand Paul was expressing his opposition as his donors were mostly Filipino nurse staffing companies. Grassley’s opposition was mere a token opposition and he was satisfied with some more red tape to the process that had no impact on outcome what so ever other than enriching lawyers.
Durbin refused to tell his reasons
Senator Durbin refused to tell publicly what were his real objections. He insisted on “secret talks” and when the draft was given to him, his staff leaked it to media. After that Senator Durbin not only refused to meet immigrant groups he actively made fun of them.
Senator Durbin gave Indian immigrants a “green paper” and mocked them
The most shocking and uncivilized behavior by Senator Durbin was when an Iranian student called Indian immigrants “liars” in his presence. Durbin laughed at such joke. The Iranian student then gave Senator a green paper and said “give this to them and they will be happy”. Senator laughed at this joke then flashed the green card at Indian immigrants before him and said “Thank You, I have been waiting for it far too long”.
This completely changed the Indian-American communities opinion of Senator Durbin and Democratic party. The video of Senator’s mocking was viral on twitter and not amount of damage control by his staff was sufficient.
Indian community raises over $160K to run ads against Senator Durbin.
Indian-American voters have raised over $160K to buy radio and tv ads against Senator Durbin this election. Thousands of voters will go door to door campaigning against Senator Durbin this election.
Tech companies have decided not to fund Senator Durbin’s campaign this year.
Senator Durbin is funded by Lawyer firms who want to block S386 so that they can continue milking Indian Immigrant’s miseries.
It appears that Senator Durbin will not tell his reasons because he will come across as too self serving and a shill for such shady organizations.
Senator’s progressive credentials are now a suspect. DACA activists have long feared that Senator Durbin might be actually planning against them at the behest of law firms and there is a good chance that he has hurt not just legal Indian immigrants but also DACA kids.
Conclusion
Can Senator win his relection ? Probably yes given the democratic hold on the voters of IL. However his racism has been exposed and the constant efforts by Indian Immigrant community will deeply hurt his chances of a landslide victory.
If Republicans put up a good candidate there is a chance that this seat may be flipped but it is very low at the moment.
Irrespective of his victory his association is a liability to Democratic party and its progressive credentials. It is unlikely that he will hold any critical position in future. Indian community has ensured that.
