Updates from the Campaign Trail

It’s February 17th, which means there’s officially 28 days until the 2026 Democratic Primary in Illinois. Our entire team has been busy working to get Dylan, a working class fighter, elected to US Congress. In this newsletter, we’ll cover everything Dylan has been up to, along with some upcoming events in District 13.

What we’re up to:

Knocking Doors
Dylan and the team have been knocking doors throughout the district, from Champaign-Urbana to Belleville. Sign up for a door knocking shift here.

Phone Banking
Our team has been calling Democratic voters like crazy to reach as many people as possible before the March 17th primary. Sign up for a phone banking shift here.

Town Halls
Throughout January and February, we’ve hosted town halls in many District 13 cities, including Wood River, Gillespie, Swansea, and Decatur. In the next few weeks, we will also host town halls in Champaign-Urbana, Springfield, and potentially Carlinville.

Excitement for Dylan’s campaign is building! Volunteer and email sign ups are increasing, along with social media followers. We’re also seeing our yard signs pop up across the district. In fact, we just picked up an order of 300 and they’re almost all spoken for.

If you’d like to help us purchase additional yard signs, you can donate here. We order in bulk, so each yard sign costs about $10.

If you’d like a sign in your yard, please use this link to request one.

Early voting started on February 5th, so we can really use your help now. Many voters in District 13 either vote by mail or through early voting, which means it’s vitally important to reach them as soon as possible through door knocking, phone banking, and text banking. We’ve also recorded ads like this one that we would love to run on digital streaming services like Hulu and Disney Plus.

Every donation we receive will help us afford to buy yard signs and literature, pay our staff, and reach voters in as many ways as we can. Together, I know we can build an America that’s affordable for all Americans, with a government that’s truly accountable to the people.

Mutual Aid Event with UIUC YDSA

Following a town hall with YDSA on February 23rd, Dylan Blaha is partnering with UIUC Left Wing Students for Change for a mutual aid event in the Champaign-Urbana community from 7-8 pm.

Dylan, LWSC and students from the UIUC community will fill ‘Grab Bags’ with food, drinks, and hygiene items to be distributed to mutual aid pantries (sometimes called Blessing Boxes) throughout CU. Examples of bag contents may include: water bottles, snacks (such as chips, granola bars, dried fruit, nuts, etc.), tissues, wipes, and other items that our community members need.

Please donate what you can to help maximize our donations to families in need. We are hoping to raise at least $500 for this event. Any contributions made through this form that exceed the amount needed to fund this project will be used to assist with other projects and programs to help community members in CU.

Town Halls

Dylan will host a town hall in Urbana on February 28th at the Independent Media Center from 1 to 2:30 pm. He will also host a town hall in Springfield at the Lincoln Library from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.

Whether you want to help Dylan get into office or you’re just looking to learn more about who he is and what he stands for, this is the perfect opportunity.

Candidate Forums

Dylan will participate in at least two candidate forums prior to the 2026 Illinois Democratic Primary. The first one will occur tonight from 7 pm to 8:30 pm via Zoom, hosted by Capitol City Indivisible. The second candidate forum will occur on February 25th from 7 to 9 pm at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, hosted by the League of Women Voters Edwardsville Area.

His opponent has declined to attend either of these two forums, which will include questions from the audience. However, she may still agree to attend a town hall in Champaign-Urbana, hosted by the Champaign County League of Women Voters. This town hall would not include a live audience or questions from the audience.

Election Day

Would you like to volunteer for our campaign on March 17th? We need plenty of volunteers to staff election sites on Election Day. Please send an email to [email protected] to learn more.