Of all of the state-level Democratic parties in "solid blue states" in this country, the Democratic Party of Illinois has to be the worst.
For starters, the Illinois Democrats lack any unified social media presence, and their official webpage looks like it's stuck in the 1990's.
Also, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is a very influential figure within the Illinois Democratic establishment. Emaunel has openly antagonized progressives, even using downright offensive terms to describe us.
Also, Illinois Democrats have been known to despise good government. State House Speaker Mike Madigan and State Senate President John Cullerton rammed through legislation to gerrymander Illinois's congressional and state legislative districts to benefit Democrats. Gerrymandering is wrong, regardless of which party does it, and the Illinois Constitution should be amended to make the redistricting process non-partisan and completely independent of the General Assembly. However, at least as long as Madigan is speaker, any attempt to push for redistricting reform in Illinois will never make it to the ballot, even though 75%+ of Illinois voters would support it.
Don't even get me started on how corrupt Illinois Democrats are. Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson Jr., Dan Rostenkowski, "Fast" Eddie Vrdolyak, the list goes on. The Democratic Party of Illinois is rife with corruption and always has been, and that's just sickening.
Also, with the Democrats in the General Assembly, the votes are never there for progressive ideals like marriage equality, but the votes are always there for irresponsible fracking legislation, tax breaks for large corporations, and other bad legislation.
Quite frankly, a progressive takeover of the Democratic Party of Illinois would be the best thing that's ever happened in this state. My wet dream would be a Democratic Party of Illinois that openly talked about supporting progressive values and championed revitalizing the middle class, protecting the legal rights of the people, and making government less corrupt and more transparent. Until that happens, don't hold your breath.