Who Picks Your Presidential Candidate, Anyway? — A Conversation with DNC Delegate Aurora Austriaco

Episode Notes

Transcript

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Hello everyone, and welcome to the CBAs at theBar podcast where we have unscripted conversations with our guests about legal news, topics, stories, and whatever else tickles our fancy. I’m your host, Maggie Mendenhall Casey of the city of Chicago’s law Department, and joining me as my co-host is my girl, Tracy Brammeier of Clifford Law Offices. Hey Tracy. How are you doing today?

Tracy Brammeier:

Hello. Hello everyone. I’m so happy to be here

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

And in person too. This is a treat. And joining us today as our guest is Aurora Austriaco, a shareholder with Valentine, Austriaco and Buchel and all women owned law firm concentrating in the areas of commercial litigation, business litigation, and real estate. Aurora is past president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents past president of the Lawyer’s Trust Fund of Illinois, past president of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association. And most important and dear to our hearts, past president of the Chicago Bar Association. She’s also a wife and a mom to two daughters, one of whom is a new lawyer. Welcome, Aurora

Aurora Austriaco:

Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. But most importantly, can I be one of your girls?

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Yes. Yes. It’s an honor to even be asked. You are welcome to the group of one of my girls. It’s a good club. I’d love to be in that club. It’s such an honor to be in your presence, a lawyer, an all around superwoman. I definitely want some legal advice and some parenting advice, but we’ll talk about that offline as we’ve all been reminded by the daily deluge of emails, TV ads, and text messages. It’s election season. One of the markers of election season is a political convention where delegates formally select a party’s nominee. Aurora had the honor of serving as a nominee for the 2024 Democratic National Convention hosted in Chicago. When most people think about a political convention, we see confetti, huge balloons, speeches. That’s what comes to mind. There’s a lot of work that goes into the process of being a delegate before the convention. And we are here to chat a little bit with Aurora about what that process looks like.

Tracy Brammeier:

So Aurora, can you just start out by telling us what is a delegate to a nomination convention?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, so to be a delegate, you actually become a part of the process in selecting and nominating the nominee presidential nominee. So there are several levels of being a delegate. One is you get elected, which is how I got in. The second one is you’re a pledged delegate, and that means elected officials, mayors, and whatnot. And then the third part of being a delegate is really whatever’s needed that needs to be filled in. They actually get chosen by the party.

Tracy Brammeier:

Okay. And you said you were an elected delegate? I was an elected delegate. So what inspired you to run for election as a delegate for the Democratic Party National

Aurora Austriaco:

Convention? So I’ve always been politically involved, and I always want to make sure that whoever’s running you at least have the ability to be a part of that process. And for me, running as a delegate was something that I’ve always thought would be a really great public service. I’ve heard people from before, say I was at the Democratic National Convention when it was in Chicago however many years ago, and it was such an amazing experience, and all of a sudden, 20 years later, however many years later, they’re a lot more involved and they’re running for whatever office, or they’ve run for office and they’re holding elected office. Not that I want that, but for me it’s more what public service can I do with the election coming up that I can actually really put in the work and the voice of whoever the presidential nominee is going to be. I want to be there to be able to vote for that person

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

In Aurora For me, someone that’s not as familiar with this process. When you say you are elected, does this mean that you are on the primary ballot and people are checking, I wantAurora Austriaco to be a delegate, and if so, what does that campaign look like?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yes. So I was on the ballot for the March 19 primary. So there are congressional districts, and so there are certain delegates that ran during the primary, and that’s how we got elected. But the process before that is a lot more time intensive, and that starts as early as October of 2023, where you actually have to fill out a form saying, Hey, I’m interested in running as a delegate. And then once you fill out that form, you send it to the, I mean, for our purposes, the Democratic Party of Illinois, and then they go through all of those names and they base it on which congressional district are you from? And so a total of, I think for all the congressional districts, there’s about 96 delegates that are chosen. And once you’re chosen to actually run as a delegate for that congressional district, then you start with collecting signatures on your petition. You need to have 500

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Signatures. This is involved process.

Aurora Austriaco:

It’s a very involved process. It’s almost really like you’re running for office with less signatures. Thank goodness for that. But yeah, I mean, you collect signatures on the petition, and then once the petition is you’ve got enough signatures and you always want to make sure that you have more than what’s required.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

You get some stricken.

Aurora Austriaco:

Right, right. The good thing is on the delegate petition here, I mean, it’s not like an elected official or you’re running for some office where someone’s challenging your petition. So

Tracy Brammeier:

That’s what I was just about to ask. What is the competition like for this role?

Aurora Austriaco:

So it could actually be very competitive. I know for the first time when I ran for the Biden delegate in 2020, which was virtual, so I never really got the full experience of it. I think there were 12 of us, and there were only seven or eight chosen. So the highest vote getters actually got it. For this one, for my congressional district, there were eight allotted and there were only eight of us. So we all got in. Thank goodness for that.

Tracy Brammeier:

So the election was almost a formality?

Aurora Austriaco:

Well, in a way it is. But you have to go through that, right? You have to be elected,

Tracy Brammeier:

You have to make it onto the ballot.

Aurora Austriaco:

You have to make it onto the ballot. You have to have your signatures. So if there were more people that actually put in their name and had there been, I dunno, 15, then yeah, that would’ve been a lot more competitive process. But I don’t know whether it’s they only chose to eight or were there not enough people who put in their petition wanted to be a delegate for that congressional district. The interesting thing about this process is I thought I was under Congresswoman Jan Shikowsky’s district, which I was originally, but I guess because of the redistricting, I got redistricted out and I am now with Congressman Quigley’s district.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Interesting.

Aurora Austriaco:

So literally I had to go to a whole different group of,

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Oh, so you

Aurora Austriaco:

Didn’t have collection,

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

You didn’t have your standards to go back to or, okay, I can go to this location to get signatures or,

Aurora Austriaco:

Okay. Yeah, I had to find people living in that district to actually get signatures that are valid.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

You don’t want to get your signatures stricken. So you mentioned that you are an elected delegate in the process that you went through to get elected, that there are pledge delegates, and then there are finally people who are picked to fill in the additional spots. Is there any difference between what your role is or what your duty or authority is as an elected delegate versus the other two roles that you described?

Aurora Austriaco:

From where I’m at, again, you have the second level, which is the elected officials. With the pledge delegates, we were all sitting in the same floor. We were on the main floor, we were all together. We were all attending meetings. I didn’t see any difference, but there could be a difference in that one. But I do know that there are certain committees for the convention that actually needed members. And I believe, if I’m not mistaken, most of the members of those committees were actually the elected officials who are on that pledged delegates.

Tracy Brammeier:

So you’ve used this term pledge delegate several times. Can you explain to us what a pledge delegate is versus an un pledged delegate?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah. So the pledge delegate basically is when I filled out my petition and my interest, you actually had to pledge that this is going to be my candidate. So before the changeover, my delegate, I pledged my loyalty to President Biden. So that really is what the pledge delegate really means. So elected officials, just a process. I think that’s just how, by definition, elected delegate. I got elected, but I’m also pledged to President Biden. You’ve got the elected officials, which is the second part of the chosen delegates, which actually is approved. So lemme backtrack a little bit. So the elected delegates are in a committee, there’s a meeting, and then the second level of delegates that are chosen, elected officials and whatnot, actually had to be approved by the elected delegates. Does that make sense? But we’re all pledged to President Biden.

Tracy Brammeier:

Okay. So who is un pledged?

Aurora Austriaco:

There is no ledged.

Tracy Brammeier:

Oh, okay. Okay.

Aurora Austriaco:

So lemme qualify that there is no un pledged.

Tracy Brammeier:

Got it.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Yeah.

Tracy Brammeier:

Okay.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

So you talked about the big change, right? Aurora Austriaco, she gets elected as a delegate. You run as a delegate for Joe Biden, and we hear the announcement that’s heard around the world that Joe Biden is not going to be seeking reelection, he will not be accepting a nomination of the Democratic Party. How did that impact you and your role as a delegate, as well as the rest of the delegates, and what did that pivot look like?

Aurora Austriaco:

So yeah, so that was kind of like a process that no one has ever gone through. So for the delegates who are already P at that point to President Biden, we had to wait. I mean, at some point, whoever the nominee is going to be going to be replacing President Biden, that’s who we are going to be pledging our commitment and loyalty to. So we had to just wait to see, because there’s a process. We didn’t know whether it’s going to be an open convention or whether it’s going to be one that’s going to be chosen, like Vice President Harris. So there was a time where we had to wait, and then basically what was instructed to us is just hold off and then we will let you know what’s going to happen because everyone’s trying to figure it out. When it became clear that Vice President Harris is going to be a nominee for the president, we had to basically fill out a form and pretty much pledge our support for Vice President Harris.

Tracy Brammeier:

I mean, was there an emergency meeting official or unofficial of delegates when this happened?

Aurora Austriaco:

Was it wasn’t really an emergency meeting, but yes, in a way it is because it’s like, we need to go ahead and get this done. So as soon as that announcement was made, we waited for a day just to figure out what the rules are on that us, but whoever’s running the delegation, and yes, we did have a meeting just to go through the process, but the election, the voting, because you had to fill out the form, it was sent by email, and we had one day to actually get that all done.

Tracy Brammeier:

It seemed to me that when Biden announced Kamala Harris as his successor nominee, most if not all of the major Democratic party voices got behind her pretty quickly. Was that true for the delegates as well, or was there some dispute or contention over whether or not everyone would pledge to her?

Aurora Austriaco:

No, I don’t think there was any dispute at all with regards to that. I mean, for me personally, I knew right away that I was going to support her, but I just wanted to know exactly what else was going on. And I don’t think there was really any dispute with the Democratic Party of Illinois about who and whatnot, whether to support Harris or not. What was happening is, is it going to be Vice President Harris’ nominee or will there be an open convention? I think that was where the question was, but it became very clear that Vice President Harris is going to be the nominee. So we put our support behind Kamala Harris.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Was there any part of you that wanted an open convention? Certainly not to contest or minimize Vice President Harris, but just for the unprecedented nature, the excitement of the unknown being in that room, was there any part of you that said, oh man, I wish this was a open convention so I could see what happens?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, you’re right. But no, for me, it was so close to the election and with the landscape that we have right now, it was chaotic already. Why add to the additional chaos? I mean, for me, I was so relieved that everyone got in line

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Her right, right,

Aurora Austriaco:

Got in line right away, and we got it done in really almost overnight. And the pride in me having a first woman, a first diverse black Asian woman, precedent nominee, there was no question in my mind that yes, I would be supporting her. And I think that feeling is shared similarly by many people.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

You can see in the social media landscape, whether you’re in support of former President Trump or Vice President Harris, that there’s this excitement. You can see it with the memes, you can see it just with the reactions. So you certainly aren’t alone or solo in that feeling of just like joy and exuberance and the happy warrior that she is going. Just back to the meetings. So you mentioned that there are lots of meetings, gatherings, things of that nature. Anything fun, anything of note that happened in those meetings that you want to share with people? Or is it really we’re filling out paperwork and figuring out when to meet next?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, so I think before the convention, it was really more online meetings, zoom meetings, a lot of emails back and forth. Again, because of the unprecedented nature of what we went through, that was exactly what was happening. And people are trying to come up with what’s the exact rule on this one, and to make sure that we’re actually doing what is right. So it was all mostly virtual and mostly by email. Where the meetings started happening is getting ready for the convention here. And there were a lot of events that actually started happening. And even during the convention, there were a lot of events for the delegates. All the delegates, not just Illinois, but for all the delegates that have come to Chicago to participate with the DNC. But the convention,

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

I think this is a good time to take our first break.

Tracy Brammeier:

We’re back, and just before our break, Aurora, you were telling us by the time that you got to the convention in Chicago, what was going on. So it’s our understanding of course, that because of the unusual way that everything about this primary season happened, the delegates actually voted before they got to the convention this year. Can you tell us about that?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, so there is the written vote that we had to cast for Vice President Harris before that to make sure that she is on the ballot for all 50 states. So the convention actually is when they CallRail a roll CallRail of each state. And then you are asked, who are you going to be voting for? So you pledge your delegates for Vice President Harris, and I don’t know if you guys got the chance to see that on tv, where they actually had every state did their own roll CallRail, and one even had an artist, a singer, actually come all the way from the very top, I think it was Atlanta, Georgia who brought him Yes. And went all the way to, so you got to see a completely different way of just instead of saying, we cast our votes for Vice President Harris, everyone had a totally different take on it.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

How did Illinois present?

Aurora Austriaco:

I think Illinois basically just presented.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Okay, straightforward Midwesterners to the point,

Aurora Austriaco:

But it’s fun to just watch everybody else. But the whole process about the roll CallRail, and I have to say that being there in person was so different than doing it on Zoom because when we did it in 2020 for President Biden, it was virtual, and I really never got the feel of what it was like to be in a convention. But this time around you really, I felt the whole Arena United Center just explode. I felt the pride of being there and being able to participate in a very, very important process in nominating, in voting for the nominee, presidential nominee. It was great to hear from former presidents, president Obama, bill Clinton was there as well, and he had a lot of really amazing influential people like Oprah was there, I mean, I’m trying to remember who were the people that were, there was so many people, and I’m telling you, it was every morning we started breakfast at 7 30, 7 o’clock in the morning and it went on to day events at the McCormick Place. And then in the evening is the actual business of the delegates. But during the day, we had the Asian caucus, we had the Women’s Caucus, we had the Latino caucus, we had the Black Caucus. So they were all meeting during the day to go about their business. And then afterwards we went to the United Center for the Evening Delegates business.

Tracy Brammeier:

So having also attended the DNC on television, I felt like the most impressive or impactful speakers leading up, of course to Ms. Harris were the Obamas from inside the convention. What was your impression of who made a big impact?

Aurora Austriaco:

I mean, they were all very impressive, right? President Obama is always so impressive, but my gosh, Michelle Obama. Wow. I mean, I can listen to her every day, every hour of the day, just because of the way she presented herself, the way she presented the message, the way she is up there representing the woman. To me that was more impactful than anybody else.

Tracy Brammeier:

Was there anything about the convention that was surprising or unexpected?

Aurora Austriaco:

I guess one thing, again, my benchmark, the first 1, 20 20 was virtual. So I couldn’t really tell you, but my experience on this one, what I really loved, which they did, and this is the one that really touched my, was really sad when they brought up victims and they started talking about rape victims, the IVF, the women’s reproductive rights being taken away, and they started bringing up on stage people who are personally affected by that decision. The Dobbs decision overturning of Roe versus Wade. There was one girl, I mean, she was not a girl, she was 18 at that time when she was at the convention. But she started by saying she was a cheerleader. She was a popular girl. She was very happy. She loved life and did all these things, very smart. And then she was actually being molested by her dad, and so brought tears to everyone just so quiet. And then she actually said, and I, because of this decision, I would not have been able to actually have done, which is she got pregnant and she

Was thankful because of Roe versus Wade. If she did not have that right at that time, she would’ve had to lose her ability to actually live life and really carry a child that is from her father molesting her. So that I think was very touching in a way that you think about, I’m 59, I shouldn’t tell people my age, but anyway, you should say that all the time because I can only wish and hope. But what I’m saying though is I’ve lived having the right to be able to decide on what happens to my own body, but now my daughters are going into their, I mean, they’re adults right now, but they’re going to face growing up. They’re not going to have the same as I used to enjoy. So to me, it’s so important that we all need to get engaged politically and support candidates who are aligned with at least the values that I hold so dear. And so I think that’s so important that if we want elected officials to share our values, we need to make sure that we’re involved in the electoral process and that we exercise our right to vote. Because if you don’t vote, you lose your right to

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Complain. Aurora hearing you say really how people and their individual stories and how the law impacts them was highlighted. Makes me think. I was going to ask you really, who was the breakout star in terms of speeches, who had the Obama 2004 convention moment? And it sounds like the people that really had that breakout moment where the people who got up and were vulnerable and told their stories about how the law is directly impacting them.

Aurora Austriaco:

And I think at the end of the day, we can have all the glitz and the really influential people on stage, but really it hits people is more when you have regular folks just experiencing things that they should not have had to experience, but for actually being up there talking about their experiences, that to me is such a powerful, powerful, they’re powerful speakers.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Were there any other everyday people talking about issues that were highlighted at the convention?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, there were several. As a matter of fact, they talked about not just on that one, but they also talked about, I think for me, the most important issues, the IVF, right, which is kind of tied to this one that could be affected. There were some, I think they talked about L-G-B-T-Q and protecting their rights as well. I mean, there were so many speakers that honestly, I’d have to really go through my cell phone and look at the pictures because I took, the rule of law, was talked about the importance of the constitution, the importance of preserving democracy, the importance of the rule of law. Is it Jamy Raskin? I think he had representative, yeah, he had s, the judicial committee, he came and spoke as well about the importance of the rule of law. And I think for us lawyers, that is so important that it’s highlighted because whatever happens, whoever is in office, you always want to make sure that you have lawyers, good lawyers who really are protecting the constitution, who are protecting the rule of law that you want to be there, making sure that the guardrails are protected.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Were there a lot of lawyers that were making up the Illinois delegation, so we know about the politicians. Were there other people who were politically connected? Were there a number of lawyers that were in the Illinois delegation, or who were the other people that were elected?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, so it’s so interesting you asked that because I’m looking at the list of the delegates from the fifth Congressional District. I did not know any of them, and I didn’t even know if they were lawyers or not. So that’s just how diverse it was. There were some other lawyers that were there, but for the most part, I’m sure, maybe not as delegates, but maybe they are guests and they have credentials to get into the convention that were attending the convention. But for our elected officials, we have a lot of lawyers as elected officials. So I think they’re well represented.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

We weren’t at a disadvantage at the convention. Is that what you’re saying, Robert?

Aurora Austriaco:

I don’t think so. I think we’ve got good representation, and that’s a good thing. Let’s take another break.

Tracy Brammeier:

We are back. Aurora, what is your favorite memory of attending the 2024 DNC?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, Tracy, that’s a really good question because we’re talking about it and there’s so much that went on in the DNC. There were so many things that happened. Being able to talk to almost every elected official, both on the state level and a national level, as if you’re just talking to someone, a good friend. So I thought that was such a treat for me.

Tracy Brammeier:

Politicians, they’re just like us.

Aurora Austriaco:

Hey, that’s right. The other thing is the concerts. Okay, maybe this is a thing. The concert, there was an event for John Legend was one of the performers. So that was amazing. That was really cool. But it really is to me, you have the ability to just be in a room with just amazing smart people, elected officials, non-elected officials from different states, and just getting the chance to chat with them and talk to them. And I thought that to me was really, really wonderful. Now, is there a tea that I can tell you? I can’t think of one right now, but if I do, I’ll definitely let you guys know. Thank you. I’ll be looking out

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

For the text message or the email. That’s right. Maybe photos.

Aurora Austriaco:

Maybe I’ll go through

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

My phone. I definitely saw lots of pictures of you on LinkedIn from your profile as well as I think a couple of alders tagged. You had all the pictures.

Aurora Austriaco:

The one thing that I love though is, I mean, Laura Murphy is my state senator. Love, love Laura Robin Kelly is one of my dearest friends. She was there. Love Robin Kelly as well. The one thing that I was kind of surprised to see was Alexa Janus. He broke his leg.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Oh, no.

Aurora Austriaco:

So he was like, I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s painful. But I’m like all the, that’s,

Tracy Brammeier:

That’s what I was about. Write that is commitment to the process.

Aurora Austriaco:

Yes. Total dedication to the process.

Tracy Brammeier:

So speaking of after the conclusion of the convention, are your duties as a delegate also concluded, or what is next for you?

Aurora Austriaco:

Yeah, so it’s so interesting because I think the convention ends, but maybe official duty as a delegate ended at that time. I don’t know yet to be seen, right? But for me, my duty and my pledge to help elect the vice president, Kamala Harris and Tim Walls, is to really just go out there and continue with participating in the election process. Meaning whatever I can do, knock on doors, go to different states, or maybe make some calls. I haven’t quite done the calls yet, but I have gone to other states, Atlanta particularly.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Oh wow. That’s

Aurora Austriaco:

To go ahead and do some knocking on doors. So the battleground states are battleground states, and those are key states that I think if you have the opportunity to help and volunteer, you should go ahead and take advantage of that, because every vote counts.

Tracy Brammeier:

And for Aurora Austriaco, are we going to see you on our ballots again, running to be elected as a democratic delegate in 2028.

Aurora Austriaco:

Oh my gosh. Tracy Foresight. Tracy Foresight. I might run again as a delegate. So you might see me there in 2028 and the name, we’ll see. But as an elected official, no, I don’t think so.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Well, we keeping an eye out, Aurora. Thanks. Now I’m

Aurora Austriaco:

Going to ask, how about you two?

Tracy Brammeier:

Well, it could be in my future, but I would hate to challenge a two times successfully elected delegate. So

Aurora Austriaco:

Hey, the more the

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

Merrier. Come on, Tracy. And I think I am speaking for both myself and Tracy and Aurora. You remember this time we have both youngins and we’re thinking about the next day. We’re thinking about the next day. We’re not thinking about the next four years right now.

Aurora Austriaco:

I’m

Tracy Brammeier:

Just trying to get through preschool.

Maggie Mendenhall Casey:

There you go. Well,

Aurora Austriaco:

I do have to say that my two daughters, they’re 28 and 25. I got them credentials to get in the convention. So in the four days, the four nights that it went on, they were there actually experiencing whole thing. So there’s perks. There’s perks. Definitely. There’s perks. And you can even ask, I think you’re elected official. You can ask

Tracy Brammeier:

Time to start writing a letter.

Alright, thank you so much, Aurora, for joining us today and telling us about your experience as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. I also want to thank our executive producer, Jen Byrne, Adam Lockwood on Sound, and everyone at the Legal Talk Network Family. Remember, you can follow us and send us comments, questions, episode ideas, or just troll us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at cba, at theBar, all one word. You could also email us at [email protected]. Please also rate and leave us your feedback on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, audible, or wherever you download your podcast at. Help us get the word out. Until next time, for everyone here at the CBA, thank you for joining us and we’ll see you soon at theBar.

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