By Mallory Mankin, Staff Writer
In a former dentist’s office on Roosevelt Avenue, Erica Bray-Parker and a group of teachers pull out their pens to write postcards on a rainy Saturday morning.
Bray-Parker is the Democratic candidate for the Illinois State House, running to represent the 47th District, against Republican candidate Robert Vrankovich. 47th District encompasses parts of Wheaton — including Wheaton College — Carol Stream, Winfield and Warrenville. Bray-Parker also currently serves as the at-large representative on the Wheaton City Council.
“I think as both an educator and someone who’s been on the city council, I definitely have the skills to listen to all the people and make good choices for a majority of us,” she said in an interview with The Record back in March.
Her campaign office is full of political posters, including those of Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. and Kamala Harris. When asked about where they came from, Bray-Parker said that her civics classroom was their former home, though the walls also featured posters of Donald Trump and John McCain.
“I’ve always believed people deserve a voice in their government,” Bray-Parker said. “Education is the great opportunity maker.”
Bray-Parker’s volunteer political coordinator, Louise Stompor, taught English as a second language for 37 years. She also serves on the Illinois Education Association (IEA) Board of Directors as the education specialist, and it was in this teachers union that she met Bray-Parker.
This particular morning, she was wearing a campaign shirt with the phrase “You can’t spell America without Erica” on the back.
The IEA is Illinois’ largest teachers union, and Stompor sends out emails through her IEA connections, recruiting members for Bray-Parker’s campaign.
Down the hall was a larger room where the campaigners had gathered. An election countdown was on the whiteboard along with the Wi-Fi password: v1ctory. The room was filled with tables and chairs, coffee machines and fridges, some of which are from Rep. Sean Casten’s past campaigns.
Casten, a supporter of Bray-Parker and the current U.S. representative of Illinois’ 6th District, showed up Saturday morning in jeans and sneakers. He said he was glad that this next campaign was using his equipment.
“The more stuff you have, the less I have to keep,” he said.
Casten and Bray-Parker caught up for a few minutes, going over what policies voters raise with Bray-Parker on the campaign trail — most notably, the Second Amendment. Bray-Parker emphatically noted that, as a state representative, she would not have the power to take away that right.
The two then sat down to take a photo, copying one of President Obama’s phone-banking photos. It depicts Obama calling voters, next to a girl in shock and awe. The two fiddled with the seating arrangement and props.
“Let’s get all the angles right here,” Casten said.
A supporter in the room took a dozen photos from various vantage points to capture the pose.
“Next time you see Obama, you can send it to him,” Bray-Parker joked.
All of the people who showed up to canvass then lined up next to take a group photo with Casten and Bray-Parker. The backdrop they stood in front of was lined with Bray-Parker’s yard signs, taped up for the occasion.
Casten then took hold of the room, speaking on the current political climate. He brought up the Democratic Party’s goal of flipping local and national seats in Congress, as well as sharing romantic notions about the American experiment.
“Nothing we build is broken and nothing they built is permanent,” Casten said, highlighting the tension between Trump repealing policies the Democratic Party helped put into place — such as diversity, equity and inclusion measures — and Trump building structures in Washington in his image — such as the Kennedy Center and the Triumphal Arch.
Those in the room clapped and reacted positively to Casten’s message, turning back to their canvassing work with energy.
Jackie Williamson ran as the Democratic candidate for the 47th District seat in 2022 and 2024, losing both times. She, too, was in the room supporting Bray-Parker, as Bray-Parker had done during Williamson’s campaigns.
“In 2022, I had no idea what I was doing,” she said, narrating her experience of getting on the general election ballot after no Democratic candidate had run in the primary. “In 2024, I lost by 292 votes, only 0.5% of the vote, while working full time.”
Williamson noted that Bray-Parker, when thinking about the 2026 election, offered the race to Williamson first.
“It’s your race to run if you want it, but if you don’t want to, I will,” Williamson recalled Bray-Parker telling her.
After an hour, Casten left the office to let the canvassers get to work, but not before a brief interview with The Record.
He brought up how he met Bray-Parker in 2017 as she organized a student-run debate for the Democratic primary when he was first running for U.S. House of Representatives. Bray-Parker’s civics club asked the seven candidates questions in the Glenbard North High School auditorium with more than 800 people in attendance. The debate was moderated by Mary Ann Ahern, a reporter for NBC-5 Chicago.
Bray-Parker and Casten reminisced about that event. Bray-Parker pulled up pictures and videos, telling stories of where some of her former students ended up, mentioning one who went to Harvard University.
When asked about how the political atmosphere has changed since his race, Casten gave an analogy to describe his view of the tension.
“If the house is broken, do you call an arsonist or a carpenter? MAGA and the DSA are arsonists,” he said. “To repair the institution, you need people of good character in office.”
The six canvassers, back at their desks, pulled out their laptops to start phone banking, Bray-Parker along with them.
“My goal has always been to make sure the people of the 47th get heard and get equal representation down in Springfield,” Bray-Parker said in the interview in March.
