By Leslie Lipschultz
Hillary Clinton is a Jan Fan – along with the 1,500 women and “a few dedicated men” who attended Representative Jan Schakowsky’s 15th Annual Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch at the Chicago Hilton on May 9. Once again, Tenth Dems showed up in force to support our close friend and neighboring Congresswoman. 
Following Congresswoman Schakowsky’s remarks about the “challenges” of the forthcoming election with Donald Trump as the likely Republican nominee – and all this implied – attendees cheered as Secretary Clinton’s image and voice filled the room. She thanked us for being Jan Fans, as she is.
An outspoken supporter of Secretary Clinton’s presidential bid, the Congresswoman also had kind words for Senator Bernie Sanders. “Bernie Sanders has played a major role in defining the debate in this campaign. His populist economic message has ignited great enthusiasm, and brought many young voters into the process, influenced Hillary and made her a better candidate,” Schakowsky said.
Another feature of this year’s luncheon was the introduction of a number of congressional candidates from around the country who shared their personal stories and the specific challenges of running in their communities. And the 10th District’s own Brad Schneider spoke about his quest to regain the seat he lost to Republican Bob Dold in 2014.
The keynote speaker, Mary Kay Henry, International President of the two-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), inspired the group with stories about workers who courageously risked their jobs to fight for a living wage for themselves and their families. Mary Kay asked for a show of hands as to which of us could have imagined it possible that, in 2016, we would be talking about even the possibility of a $15 an hour federal minimum wage. Only a few indicated they had anticipated this potentially exciting development.
As always, the event reminded us all of why we are Democrats and what we can accomplish when we work together to achieve our goals.