The old saying is to paint the town red. But Bob Peickert has always been partial to blue.

The Elmhurst Democrat recently announced plans to run for chairman of the Democratic Party of DuPage County next year. The former DuPage County Board candidate and head of Operation: Turn DuPage Blue hopes to invigorate the party by enlisting more Democrats as precinct committeemen.

“We have over 700 precincts in DuPage County, but (in the last election) Democrats only had 122 precinct committeemen,” he said. “We need to raise that and get the message out in those areas.”

If elected, Peickert would take the reins of an organization that’s typically an underdog in the mostly Republican DuPage County.

Last year, Peickert lost his bid for a seat on the DuPage County Board to incumbent Republican Donald Puchalski of Addison. During the same election, Elmhurst Democrat Joe Vosicky, for whom Peickert served as a campaign manager, lost his race for a chair in the Illinois House of Representatives to Elmhurst Republican Dennis Reboletti.

But Peickert believes more Democrats live in DuPage than election results show and it’s just a matter of reaching them.

“One of the reasons OTDB has been successful is we’ve pulled together very talented, experienced people,” he said. “One of my goals would be to pull together and draw from the huge pool of experienced and talented people, get them involved. We know they are there. We need to find them, bring them in and expand the party to get our message out.”

The vote for a new chair of the organization would take place sometime after the Tuesday, Feb. 5, primary, Peickert said. The current chair, Lombard resident Gayl Ferraro, is stepping down after presiding over the organization for six years.

Peickert is running for the job at the encouragement of OTDB’s steering committee.

“They thought I’d do a good job as chair and asked me to announce my candidacy, and I did,” he said. “And I think my background would qualify me for this.”
He also has personal reasons for running.

“When you have grandchildren and see the world as it is, you wonder what kind of world they’ll live in when (you’re) gone,” Peickert said. “I want to do my part to make the world better.”

Vosicky praised Peickert’s plans to sign more Democrats on as precinct committeemen.

“That’s a good thing because it means people will know more about state and local government. It’s (precinct committeemen’s job) to get out information as far as local and state candidates,” he said, “so getting more Democrats is very important.

“(Peickert) has a big capacity to get people invigorated and that’s not to be underestimated,” Vosicky added.