Cape County Dem chairman speaks on 'strangest' year, hope for party locally

The chairman of Cape Girardeau County’s Democratic Party committee admits the 2020 virtual Democratic National Convention taking place this week is a real oddity.

“This is by far the strangest political year I can imagine,” said Jonathan Kessler of Jackson, a professor at Southeast Missouri State University.

The convention began Monday and is officially headquartered at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, but most of the proceedings will be held remotely from many venues across the country.

Joe Biden officially will receive the Democratic presidential nomination, while Sen. Kamala Harris of California will receive the party’s nod for the vice president.

Neither will go to Milwaukee as both Biden and Harris will make their convention speeches from Biden’s home city of Wilmington, Delaware.

Harris will speak Wednesday night and Biden on Thursday.

The convention will open and close each night in Milwaukee but very little of the rest of the proceedings will actually be held in the Badger State.

Former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also have prime-time speaking slots and none will be in Wisconsin either, with all choosing to deliver speeches remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kessler said he is hopeful Biden-Harris will prevail but tempers his optimism with caution.

“It looks promising (in 2020),” said Kessler, 33. “But I never think it will be easier.”

Kessler, Cape Girardeau County party chairman since 2017, said he sees hopeful signs in a county traditionally dominated by Republicans.

“I’ve seen an unprecedented number of requests for (presidential) yard signs,” said Kessler, noting he has been asked for dozens of Biden-Harris placards.

Kessler said a big effort is being made to find and identify Democrats to run for county-level positions, admitting “we don’t have any (now) in Cape Girardeau County.”

Kessler, originally from Sparta, Illinois, said he is cognizant of the positive polls thus far for the Biden-Harris slate but said he is taking nothing for granted.

“It never feels like you’re winning if you’re a Democrat in Cape County,” he opined.

Asked about the recent furor over mail-in voting in November’s general election, Kessler had a pointed reply.

“The president seems to be dismantling a constitutionally-defined organization in an attempt to call into question our elections,” he said.