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U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos announced Monday she will not run for Illinois governor next year, leaving the Democratic field without a major Downstate candidate.

The 55-year-old, three-term congresswoman from East Moline said after several months of considering a bid that she was calling supporters to say she instead will seek re-election to the House in 2018.

In an interview, Bustos called Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner "entirely beatable." She said despite big promises, Rauner had been a "disaster" with respect to job creation and had shown disregard for "people who need a little help" such as domestic-violence victims and autistic children.

A campaign for governor would have been challenging for Bustos, who is not well-known outside her district, has never run statewide and faced having to raise a sizable amount of campaign cash. On the other hand, as a Democrat from outside of Chicago, she had the potential to capture Downstate votes. That second base of support in a statewide race is part of the formula used by one of her mentors, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield.

Bustos has not endorsed a Democrat in the still-developing governor field but said she wants someone who will be a "fighter" for people all over the state, naming cities as diverse as Chicago, Moline and Carbondale.

Her decision leaves three declared Democratic candidates and several others mentioned as potentially running.

Earlier this month, Chris Kennedy, a former University of Illinois board chairman and Merchandise Mart president, kicked off his campaign with a web video and media interviews. He is the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running for the Democratic nomination for the White House, so he brings a big political family name to the race and could have considerable fundraising muscle.

Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, has announced he'll give the race a go. And Bob Daiber, a regional schools superintendent in Downstate Madison County who has little name recognition statewide, said last week that he'll run.

Chicago billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker has been touring Illinois as he mulls entering the Democratic primary for governor. A handful of other Democrats haven't said whether they'll get in, including U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, and state Sens.Daniel Biss of Evanston, Kwame Raoul of Chicago and Andy Manar of Bunker Hill.

The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to square off against Rauner, who has said he's running for a second term as his state budget battle with Democrats has dominated his first so far. The lack of a full spending plan has left the governor without many bumper-sticker-style accomplishments to tout, but he found some political success last year as the state Republican Party he largely finances helped win a handful of seats at the Capitol from Democrats.

Late last year, the governor parked $50 million in his campaign account, a deposit that GOP operatives called a "first installment" on a 2018 campaign.

Bustos won re-election in November with more than 60 percent of the vote in a district that narrowly favored Republican Donald Trump for the White House. She represents the 17th Congressional District, which takes in the Quad Cities, parts of Rockford and Peoria, and stretches of northern, central and western Illinois. The district's western border is the Mississippi River.

After the win, she was one of three lawmakers elected co-chairs of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee, which helps with strategy and communications. Bustos said the post makes her the "voice of the heartland" on a leadership team otherwise drawn "entirely from the coasts." She sits on the Agriculture Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Bustos is a former reporter for the Quad-City Times, a former hospital communications executive and a former East Moline city councilwoman. Her husband, Gerry Bustos, is Rock Island County sheriff.

kskiba@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @KatherineSkiba

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Democratic U.S. Rep. Bustos won't run for Illinois governor in 2018 ... - Chicago Tribune

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD | February 19, 2017, 12:11AM

The Golden State is getting ready to do battle again.

Thats because among the spectrum of issues President Donald Trump covered in his animated news conference Thursday was an announcement that he would be issuing a new executive order on immigration this week, a version tailored around the concerns raised by the federal appeals court that blocked the last one.

Trump said the new order would comprehensively protect our country, but he offered few specifics. Extreme vetting will be put in place, and it already is in place in many places, he said.

In addition, Trump reiterated his order for a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal law and that harbor criminal aliens. That order, signed by the president in late January, has made clear that cities would risk losing federal money if they didnt commit their police to enforcing federal immigration laws.

How that would work, if at all, is still unclear. But California is not waiting around to find out.

In this state we celebrate diversity, Senate leader Kevin de Len, D-Los Angeles, told a gathering of newspaper executives in Sacramento Wednesday. We dont deport it. We dont ban it. We dont wall it off.

To combat the presidents immigration agenda, de Len has introduced SB 54, which would, among other things, prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies as well as school police and security departments from using resources to investigate, detain or arrest individuals for immigration enforcement purposes. Some say its an attempt to turn the entire state into a sanctuary city. But de Len said it is an effort to preserve Californias set of values. We are going to have to fight and defend like never before to protect it to shield our people and our policies from federal intrusion and overreach, he told a California Newspaper Publishers Association conference.

But many members of law enforcement are opposed to the bill, including Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas, who supports the current system in which the county notifies Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an individual that ICE is interested in is scheduled to be released on bail or set free. Freitas contends SB 54 doesnt allow exceptions for serious and violent felons.

We were disappointed with the decision by Freitas to join in a discussion with controversial Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Feb. 7, a meeting that Freitas knew would set off unnecessary alarm in a community that depends on undocumented workers for its agriculture-based economy and has pledged to support immigrants. It was, to say the least, bad optics. At the same time, his concerns about SB 54, which he said he expressed to Sessions, deserve attention.

As weve noted before, illegal immigrants who are convicted of serious or violent crimes should be deported after completing their sentences, and if SB 54 prevents that from occurring, then the wording needs to be altered. Protecting families and peaceful workers is something worth fighting for. Protecting criminals is not.

However, Trump has indicated he expects to deport at least 3 million undocumented immigrants, which is two to three times more than the estimated number of criminals who are here illegally. California lawmakers are right to be wary about the administrations true intent and right to be ready to hold the president to the letter of the law.

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PD Editorial: Immigration rules that protect families not criminals - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

CBS Local

New Hampshire Democrat Drops DNC Bid To Back Keith Ellison CBS Local CONCORD, N.H. (AP) New Hampshire Democrat Ray Buckley has dropped out of the race for Democratic National Committee chair and is throwing his support behind Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison. Buckley's announcement comes a week before ... NH Democrat Buckley drops out, endorses national chair hopefulThe Union Leader Democrats in the AfterlifeNashville Scene Top Georgia Democrats choose a side in race for DNC chairAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog) Common Dreams all 117 news articles »

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New Hampshire Democrat Drops DNC Bid To Back Keith Ellison - CBS Local

The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, blasted the president for calling the media "the enemy of the American people," telling ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, "This is something that you hear tin-pot dictators say."

"It's not something you have ever heard a president of the United States say," Schiff of California said in an exclusive interview that will air on "This Week" Sunday. "This is something that you hear tin-pot dictators say when they want to control all of the information.

President Trump tweeted Friday, "The FAKE NEWS media....is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!"

"I didn't think I could be shocked anymore by this president, but I have to say, of all the things he has said since he became president, or since the election, this to me was the most devastating and the most alarming," Schiff said. "That he essentially views the First Amendment -- because that's what these organizations represent -- as an enemy of the people."

"Not even Nixon went there," Schiff said of former President Richard Nixon.

Schiff said Trump's comment about the press was "deeply concerning" and that he hopes Republicans as well as Democrats will speak out against the remark.

"I hope it is repudiated by people from both parties, because this is not America," Schiff said.

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Top Democrat says Trump's calling media 'the enemy' is something 'you hear tin-pot dictators say' - ABC News

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., addresses the audience during the 2016 Indiana Democratic state convention at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, Saturday, June 18, 2016.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)Buy Photo

WASHINGTON Could the next leader of the Democratic Party come from a state that Donald Trump won by 19 percentage points?

Let me begin by bringing progressive greetings from Mike Pences Indiana, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said at a recent forum for candidates running to head the Democratic National Committee.

Buttigieg has been arguing at those forumsthat he knows how Democrats can win in red states, both up and down the ballot.

But Indiana is one of 10 states where Democrats, according to a recent Washington Post analysis, barely have a pulse, based on the large majorities Republicans hold in the state legislature, congressional delegation and statewide elected offices.

Nationwide, Republicans control both the governorship and state legislatures in half the states.

Im not as worried about our national prospects as I am the erosion and dissipation of the Democratic Party at the local level, said former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, who ran for the DNC chair in 2005 when he was trying to expand the partys appeal to working-class white and religious voters. You cant be a national party if you cant win local and state elections.

State Rep. Dave Niezbodski, a plumber who represents South Bend, said Hillary Clinton lost blue-collar voters in states like Indiana because she focused on Trump instead of talking about the people.

Whether or not they really believed his message or not, he was talking about what he was going to do for the people, Niezbodski said. And that is where I believe the touch with reality was lost. Pete realizes that.

If he wins the DNC race, Buttigieg has promised to visit every state and territory, coming up with tailored victory plans while selling an economic message that resonates with working- and middle-class families.

He points to the expensive cancer treatments his partners mother is receiving through her Obamacare insurance as an example of why Democrats need to fight efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

National security issues, he said, are not theoretical to him.As a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan, he could get called up if a reckless president leads us into peril.

And Democrats cant make false promises to bring back manufacturing jobs that were lost primarily to automation, he said. But, we have to make sure working people understand they have a role in the story of a modern and globalized economy.

I dont think emulating Trump is the way forward. But I do think he was speaking to a lot of people who were hurting, Buttigieg said. I think when people are fragile, theyre more inclined to vote for somebody with that style.

The style hes offering is what he calls the happy warrior, a term that has also been used to describe Pence.

The warrior part, to Buttigieg, is every falsehood has to be met with fact, and every outrage has to have a response.

At the same time, he said, you cant win the hearts and minds of voters if you come off as a sour complainer.

We want to make sure were not only raising our voices in opposition but also establishing a movement that people would want to be proud of, he said.

That cheerful spirit, he said, was present in the womens marches. (And hes been pointing out at the DNC forums that he was the only candidate to attend one of the marches.)

Because theres no Democrat in the White House, the ability of the next DNC chairman to be a strong messenger for the party is key, said former DNC chair Joe Andrew.

But even if the party doesnt chose Buttigieg, Andrew said, the race will have boosted Buttigiegs reputation and helped Indianas image.

Unfortunately and unfairly, he said, Indiana has gotten labeled a certain way right now because of Pence. And Buttigieg an openly gay, Ivy League, Afghanistan veteran, mayor of a Rust Belt city is not what people usually picture when they think of Indiana.

To have someone who defies all these expectations, thats great for Indiana, Andrew said. And it might take him all the way.

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.

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Does a red state Democrat know how to beat Trump? - Indianapolis Star