Shantel Franklin didn’t have to be at the Democratic Party of Oak Park bi-monthly meeting Saturday morning.
After a remarkably strong performance in the March 17 Democratic primary, where she out-polled the closest of her three opponents by more than 20%, Franklin faces no Republican challenger in the Nov. 3 general election.
But Franklin didn’t win her four-candidate primary race by the overwhelming margin that she did by taking anything for granted.
And even though the 8th House district covers just a small section of six precincts in Oak Park south of the Eisenhower Expressway as well as swaths of the West Side, Franklin wanted to let the Democratic activists know she was ready to listen and learn as she waits to be sworn in as Re. La Shawn Ford’s successor in Springfield in January.
Franklin got a healthy round of applause when she noted that she’d be the first woman to represent the 8th District. And one of the youngest.
She’ll soon have a direct say in other legislation, and said she’s keeping an eye on the West Suburban Hospital situation. The 8th House District is ground zero for the ongoing financial and legal debacle that threatens to take a major safety net hospital permanently off the board for West Side residents. She will soon represent much of the Austin neighborhood east of Austin Boulevard, areas heavily impacted in numerous ways by the closure of West Sub.
“It’s something that I’m following,” she said. “The communities need these hospitals. They need them open.”
“I live in Austin,” Franklin said. “Our safety net hospitals are really under attack.” While she feels strongly about the need to protect healthcare assets like West Sub, she said she’s working to better understand all the issues before weighing in on how she thinks the state needs to proceed.
“There’s a lot of information we don’t know,” Franklin said. “So one, I try not make decisions or say what needs to be done when I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that are going on, infighting between ownership.”
“I do think there needs to be continuing conversation. I do think eventually the government will need to step in, but I do think we need to evaluate what that will look like, because right now it looks like a private fight that’s happening in the court.”
Asked if she thought the state needed to take a firmer hand in assessing the viability of individuals and organizations that apply to take over local hospitals, Franklin said that while she’s not yet well versed on the myriad details related to West Sub, “I would support legislation, if it’s applicable, for us to have a stronger hand in who gets to take these hospitals over.”
“I’m watching. I’m ready to work,” she said.
Following her primary victory in March, Franklin credited her success to old school political leg work in the precincts, and networking with people. Despite her connections made during seven years of working for Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, she said she remains intent on never being outworked by a political opponent.
“My strategy was ‘get your (butt) on those doors. I knocked on over 25,000 doors,” she said in March.
Saturday she said she was looking to build on that success, not rest on any laurels. “We’ve built a really strong coalition over the past year,” she said. “We’re still working, we’re still out there.”
“What we know is people like (to see you), they like to know you’re out there doing the work, so I want you all to know that we’re still doing it.”
“There’ll be many opportunities this fall to door knock, to connect, to continue to spread the word across the 8th District and I’d love to have your support.”
Franklin worked hard starting last summer to gain the trust and support of five suburban mayors miles away from her West Side base in the long, drawn out 8th House district, including Countryside, Hodgkins, North Riverside, LaGrange and LaGrange Park.