When the Parade Passes By

May 26, 2026 | Election News | Freeport, IL

Memorial Day is not supposed to be about politics. It is supposed to be about sacrifice. About the Americans who never came home. The sons and daughters buried beneath rows of white crosses. The empty seats at family tables. The folded flags handed to grieving mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And in towns like Freeport, Memorial Day still means something.

It means veterans standing proudly along parade routes while patriotic music echoes through downtown streets. It means children scrambling for candy tossed from passing cars and floats. It means parents cheering from sidewalks while grandparents sit carefully positioned in lawn chairs beneath shady trees waving miniature American flags.

For one morning each year, politics, businesses, churches, labor groups, police officers, firefighters, veterans organizations, local governments, and ordinary citizens all come together in one place. Not to fight. Not to campaign against one another. But to stand together as Americans.

At least, that is how it is supposed to work.

Traditionally, Memorial Day parades also serve another purpose: the unofficial kickoff to election season. Candidates introduce themselves to voters. Elected officials remind residents they are still active in the community. Political parties show up not merely for photo opportunities, but to demonstrate visibility, organization, and civic participation.

Republicans do it. Democrats do it. Or at least they are supposed to.

Freeport should have been no different. And for most of the community, it wasn’t.

Veterans marched. Police officers marched. Firefighters marched. Mayor Jodi Miller waved to residents while City Manager Rob Boyer handed candy to children lining the streets. The Stephenson County Republican Central Committee showed up publicly stating,

“It was a beautiful morning for the Memorial Day parade to give honor to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We are forever grateful.”

Politics aside, they understood the assignment. They showed up.

Candidates smiled and waved. Volunteers walked with supporters. Adults marched beside children beneath a sea of red, white, and blue. Then the parade ended. The final float rolled past. The last pieces of candy disappeared from the pavement.

And residents across Freeport were left asking the same question:

Where were the Democrats?

Not hidden somewhere in the lineup. Not delayed. Not attending another event nearby. Gone. Completely absent from the largest Memorial Day gathering in Stephenson County.

No Democratic Party float. No visible Democratic candidates. No local Democratic elected officials marching through downtown Freeport. No visible effort to engage voters. No demonstration of party unity. No downtown headquarters activity.

Nothing.

Where was the Stephenson County Democratic Party? Where was Chairwoman Jody Coss? Where were the candidates asking Stephenson County voters for support this November? Where were the people constantly flooding mailboxes begging residents to donate money to “protect democracy”? Where were the Democrats who repeatedly tell local voters their mission is simple: “We get Democrats elected.”

Apparently not in Stephenson County.

Because while Freeport residents packed sidewalks downtown, while veterans were honored, while local Republicans made themselves visible in the community they are actively trying to represent, the leadership of the Stephenson County Democratic Party climbed into their vehicles, left the county, and headed east to Winnebago County.

Not for Stephenson County voters. Not for local Democratic candidates. Not for Freeport.

They left to march in Pecatonica on the coattails of congressional candidate Paul Nolley. And the party proudly advertised it.

In a public statement released during Memorial Day festivities, the party wrote:

“Great Day for a parade with Paul Nolley for Congress! A team of Stephenson County Democrats joined with Dems from four counties to walk with Paul Nolley in the biggest and oldest parade in Northern Illinois in Pecatonica today!”

That statement alone should infuriate Democratic donors in Stephenson County.

Because while local Democrats were looking for leadership at home, their party leadership was chasing photo ops in another county. While Freeport streets were packed with voters, the local Democratic leadership decided their time was better spent attempting to attach themselves to a congressional campaign many Stephenson County residents cannot even vote for.

Less than half of Stephenson County falls within the congressional district Nolley is running in against Darin LaHood (R). The majority of Freeport and Stephenson County voters instead live in the district represented by Eric Sorensen.

So why exactly was the Stephenson County Democratic Party abandoning Stephenson County on Memorial Day to promote a candidate irrelevant to most local voters?

And perhaps more importantly, what message does that send to their own local candidates?

What about Democratic county board candidates Sam Newton, Roxanne Rice, Adam Moderow, and Edward Klein? What about Democratic County Clerk candidate Suzanne Cook? What about John Ping and Joseph Berning fighting uphill battles against strong and popular Republican incumbents? What about every other Democratic candidate whose name will actually appear on Stephenson County ballots this November?

Did they matter less than a parade in another county? Did Stephenson County itself matter less?

Because that is exactly the message many voters likely received yesterday.

And Democratic donors should be asking serious questions today.

From January through March alone, the Stephenson County Democratic Party raised nearly $20,000, effectively doubling its war chest. Local Democrats donated that money believing it would be used to organize, energize, and elect Democrats in Stephenson County.

Instead, on one of the biggest public voter-engagement opportunities of the year, the party leadership effectively abandoned the field entirely.

No local visibility. No coordinated candidate presence. No outreach. No energy. No effort.

Meanwhile, Republicans did exactly what functioning political parties are supposed to do: they showed up.

That contrast could not have been clearer if it had been scripted.

And perhaps the most politically devastating part of all this is that nobody forced the Stephenson County Democrats to make this mistake. Nobody demanded they skip Freeport. Nobody ordered them to leave their own county. In fact the opposite is true. Sources have confirmed that at least one democratic candidate reached out to parade organizers to be included in the parade but it seems that party leadership had more important voters to pander to.

This was a conscious choice. A deliberate decision by party leadership to prioritize political networking and regional optics over their own voters, their own candidates, and their own community.

On Memorial Day of all days.

For local Democratic candidates already facing difficult elections, yesterday should be deeply concerning. Because if your own party leadership cannot be bothered to show up for you at the largest Memorial Day parade in the county during a critical midterm election year, why should voters believe they are serious about fighting to win?

And for local Republican leadership, yesterday was likely the political equivalent of finding money laying on the sidewalk. Because while one party marched through Freeport waving flags, shaking hands, and engaging voters, the other party literally left town.

If Stephenson County Democrats are hoping for a blue wave in November, Memorial Day 2026 may ultimately be remembered as the moment voters realized the wave never planned on stopping here.

Freeport and Stephenson County are not the priority.

They are simply the breakwater.