Meet your delegates: the people who will vote for presidential candidates at the conventions

Stella Kozanecki didn’t like the way Donald Trump talked about a female journalist, so she contacted his campaign to voice her displeasure. Now she’s a Trump supporter.

Lynne Schwartzhoff, a college English instructor in Belleville, likes what Bernie Sanders has to say.

Sharee Langenstein, a lawyer, favors Ted Cruz because she views him as the best candidate to defend the Constitution.

Al Adomite, the mayor of Troy, went with Jeb Bush, while Dina Burch, a Madison County circuit clerk employee, went with Hillary Clinton.

Doug Hartmann Sr. of Collinsville bought a Trump “Make America Great Again” cap, and the next thing he knew, the Trump campaign was contacting him with a request.

Becky Wuest of Belleville caught the eye of Sanders’ coordinators after she helped start an online Sanders forum on Reddit.

What they have in common is that their names are on the ballot for the March 15 primary, as delegates for their preferred presidential candidates.

Presidential delegates are the people who go to the Republican National Convention or the Democratic National Convention and help choose their party’s candidate for president.

In Illinois, the election of delegates typically hasn’t been too fascinating. But this presidential primary is a horse of a different color, particularly on the unsettled Republican side, with the Trump drama.

The delegate hopefuls who metro-east voters will see on the ballot cover a spectrum. Some are political party lieutenants or elected officeholders with knowledge of the delegate system.

Others are political newbies, who are learning as they go.

Take Hartmann, a 68-year-old real estate agent. How did he become a Trump delegate?

“That’s an interesting question,” he said. “I don’t know for sure. I think my name was probably picked out of some kind of hat.”

Hartmann said he’s been “a vocal Trump supporter” and bought a Trump cap when they first went on sale.

“I guess that got me onto a mail list,” Hartmann said.

The Trump campaign contacted Hartmann and asked him to be a delegate. Hartmann then collected the 100 Republican voter signatures needed to get his name on the ballot.

Hartmann said Trump campaign people in Springfield helped him navigate the process, but not much.

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to put up a Trump sign or a Hartmann sign,” he said. “I don’t know what goes on at a convention, but I’m looking forward to casting a vote for Trump.”

Hartmann said he’s never been involved in politics, except for sending an occasional check to a candidate.

Hartmann doubts that attempts to block Trump from winning the nomination will work.

“I think it’s a bunch of old men — obviously older than I am — who don’t have control and are losing their minds over not having control. I think it’s a selfish move by the Republican Party,” Hartmann said.

“I’m angry at the Republican Party. I’m angry at government,” he said. “They’re attacking a guy who’s done something instead of eating at the public trough.”

Kozanecki, 80, of Mount Vernon, worked at an insurance company before retiring. She said she hasn’t been involved in politics. “I’ve never campaigned for anyone, never run for an office,” she said.

Kozanecki followed news coverage of the primary races and didn’t like the way Trump spoke about Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

“I found an email address for him, and told him I thought he owed Megyn Kelly an apology, and needed to clean up his rhetoric,” Kozanecki said.

Kozanecki added in the email, however, that she liked Trump’s position on border security and the military.

“A couple weeks later, I got an email asking if I’d give them some biographical information. Then, they asked if I’d like to be a delegate,” Kozanecki said.

So Kozanecki went about collecting the 100 signatures. To find Republicans to sign her candidate petition, she went to the county clerk’s office and got voting records from a previous Republican primary. Then she knocked on doors and got 110 signatures — 10 extra — “just to be on the safe side.”

Kozanecki said she would have attended a rally Trump held in Springfield in November, but she was having surgery. She said she has a couple of Trump signs and plans to put one along the road near her home.

“I don’t think I’ll go out and stump for him in the primary, because it looks to me like he’ll get it sewn up pretty quickly,” she said. “For the general election, I’ll go out and knock on doors and ask people to vote for him.”

Why does Kozanecki like Trump?

“I like him because he is not obligated to anybody. We elected a whole group of so-called conservative members of the House, and they just passed the biggest budget there ever was and gave Obama everything he wanted,” she said. “The main thing is that he doesn’t come with strings attached — I really like that for a change.”

Schwartzhoff, a Sanders delegate, teaches English at Southwestern Illinois College. Schwartzhoff said she hasn’t been involved in politics before and has never attended a national political convention.

“I care about politics, I care about the effect it has on our community and our country, but I have never really been involved,” she said.

Schwartzhoff said she followed Sanders’ congressional career. When he announced he was seeking the Democrat nomination, she quickly became a supporter — volunteering and trying to round up other supporters.

“Then someone from the campaign called and interviewed me about being a delegate. They got back to me a couple weeks later,” she said.

Schwartzhoff collected the signatures she needed to get on the ballot, and then helped other delegates collect the signatures they needed.

“I’ve done some phone-banking for him. He just recently opened a campaign office in Collinsville, so I’m working with the field organizers,” Schwartzhoff said. “I currently volunteer to phone-bank and will soon be doing door-to-door canvassing to answer questions about Sen. Sanders and encourage people to vote in the Democratic primary.”

Schwartzhoff, 51, said she appreciates that Sanders isn’t financed by corporations and super PACs. She supports his proposal to tax certain stock and bond trades to pay for free education at public universities.

“Education is very expensive, and he makes the argument that most people need to have a college education to get a job that offers a good standard of living, so why should that be different from K-through-12 education?” she said.

Schwartzhoff said the proposal for free college isn’t the only reason Sanders enjoys support among young adults.

“I think the young voters are a lot more egalitarian than older people. I think they have a sense of community among themselves that adults don’t fully appreciate,” she said. “They have much more of a sense that they’re in this with other people.”

She added: “I don’t think it’s about the ‘free stuff,’ like a lot of people say. I don’t think that’s driving it. I think it’s a sense of community.”

Would she vote for Clinton if Clinton wins the Democrat nomination?

“I don’t know,” Schwartzhoff said. “I haven’t really thought all the way through that.”

Wuest, another Sanders delegate, works as a marketing director at a small business in Belleville. The 30-year-old majored in political science in college. Sanders’ candidacy quickly caught her attention.

“A lot of people were all pretty excited because they wanted a progressive leader, something he’s been his whole political career,” Wuest said. “We were forming this grassroots movement online, using Reddit.”

She and some others on the forum began working on a Sanders website.

“Several of us got together and worked on this website to discuss his policies, feelthebern.org,” Wuest said. “Through that activism, and through some grassroots meetings ... my name was thrown into the ring — they asked me if I wanted to be a delegate, and I was honored.”

Wuest said she’s done some phone-banking and has helped staff a Sanders campaign office in Collinsville.

Wuest said although she was interested in politics before, she had not previously been involved in politics. Sanders campaign people have sent emails and called Wuest about the delegate duties.

“It’s been really fascinating, learning about the subject in college and then actually being a part of it,” Wuest said.

Does she wish the Democrat primary had the intrigue and drama of the Republican primary?

“No, I’m actually kind of pleased that our candidates have been sticking to the issues, instead of personal attacks,” Wuest said.

Burch, a Clinton delegate, is a chief deputy in the Madison County circuit clerk’s office. She’s long been involved in Democrat Party politics.

“I was asked by the Madison County Democratic Party if I’d like to be a delegate for Hillary,” Burch said. “I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Burch, who has never served as a delegate before and has never attended a national party convention, said it would be exciting to attend the convention — especially if Clinton ends up being the country’s first female presidential nominee.

Burch said she and other delegate hopefuls went out together to collect the required petition signatures. The Clinton campaign has been giving her information about the delegate process.

“We have a conference call about every week, and it’s for all the potential delegates for Hillary in the state of Illinois,” Burch said. “They’ve sent us a little bit of information for the convention — the hotel where we’ll be staying at and how to make reservations, but we can’t do that until after the primary.”

Burch said she didn’t pay much attention to the delegate process in the past.

“In the past, I just voted for the delegates for the candidate that I was going to vote for. It’s been interesting to learn more about the process, and I’m still learning,” she said.

Burch, like Wuest, said she doesn’t wish for the intrigue of the GOP primary.

“I think there’s still a chance that Bernie could collect some delegates, and it could get to be a close race, but no,” Burch said. “I’ve been watching the Republican debates. I kind of find it hard to believe what’s goiing on with those debates, and how they’re talking with each other and creating so much drama.”

Langenstein is an attorney in Murphysboro who also is seeking the Republican nomination to run for state senator in Illinois’ 58th Senate District.

Langenstein at one point home-schooled a daughter who has a disability, and she became involved with other Illinois home-schoolers who were monitoring legislation in Springfield. Through those connections, she came to the attention of Rick Santorum, a former home-schooler, and served as a delegate for him four years ago.

This election season, the Cruz campaign contacted her.

“I was asked. The Cruz campaign contacted me and asked me to become a delegate for him,” Langenstein said. “Senator Cruz is someone who stands up for the Constitution, and I’m someone who is very passionate about standing up for the Constitution.”

Langenstein also has experience in election law and represented Cruz in a lawsuit in Chicago over the Cruz “birther” issue.

Langenstein thinks it’s possible that the Republican nomination is not settled by the time the convention rolls around.

“I think it’s possible we could end up with a brokered convention,” she said.

If she is elected in the 12th Congressional District to be a delegate, the party rules dictate that Langenstein would have to cast her first vote for Cruz. In later votes, however, if Cruz were to “release” his delegates, they would be free to vote for another candidate.

“That’s when all the wheeling and dealing takes place,” Langenstein said. “If it got to the point where I was released, I would vote according to the way the people of the 12th Congressional District voted.”

Some pundits have suggested that Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio might form an alliance to try to beat Trump.

“I see it as possible, yes. I don’t know. I think the only possibility there is if Cruz is at the top of the ticket, and Rubio is veep,” Langenstein said.

Langenstein said she’s been able to meet with Cruz a couple of times, at Eagle Forum functions.

Adomite said even though Bush has dropped his candidacy, being a delegate for Bush gave him an opportunity to meet the candidate during a stop in Missouri.

“It was a neat opportunity to be able to be in a small group and meet the governor. He’s very impressive,” Adomite said.

Adomite doubts there will be a contested GOP convention.

“I think brokered conventions are mythical things that happened a long time ago,” he said.

Adomite has been involved in Republican politics for a long time. A brother-in-law, who is a Republican officeholder in Champaign County, was affiliated with the Bush campaign, and recommended Adomite as a delegate in the 15th Congressional District.

“I think Illinois’ primary still could play a big role in the national convention,” Adomite said. “With Cruz winning Texas, and if it stays kind of a three-person race, Illinois could still be a big player in the Republican nomination.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 9:14 AM with the headline "Meet your delegates: the people who will vote for presidential candidates at the conventions."