Politics
Illinois Republicans Announce 3 Finalists for State Chair Post as Private Meeting Set for Friday
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy rallies the party faithful at the 2023 Illinois State Fair. Less than a year later, Tracy announced his resignation, citing party infighting. (Jerry Nowicki / Capitol News Illinois)
With only days to go before the Republican National Convention, fractured Illinois Republicans on Friday could choose a new leader.
The decision comes as a Republican lawmaker is voicing concerns that a leadership change ahead of November’s elections will serve to further harm the minority party’s political chances.
On Thursday morning, the Illinois GOP announced the three candidates for the state chair post: state Rep. John Cabello of Machesney Park, Palatine Township GOP Chair Aaron Del Mar and Kathy Salvi, who was the unsuccessful Republican nominee against Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
Members of the Republican State Central Committee — the political leadership team for the party, which includes Republicans from each of Illinois’ 17 congressional districts — will hear from Cabello, Del Mar and Salvi in a private meeting Friday.
Committee members could then vote for a new leader, though the actual selection may come later.
Current chair of the party Don Tracy on June 19 said that he wants to be out of the job by close of business July 19 – the day after the RNC wraps — at the latest.
In his resignation letter, he cited discomfort with state central committee members infatuated with fighting other Republicans.
“When I took on this full-time volunteer job in February, 2021, I thought I would be spending most of my time fighting Democrats, helping elect Republicans, raising money to pay for more Party infrastructure, and advocating for Party unity,” Tracy wrote. “Unfortunately, however, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities that continued after primaries and County Chair elections.”
The party’s staunchest conservatives had taken to routinely bashing Tracy’s leadership, particularly after dismal showings in the 2022 election cycle.
But retiring state Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur, a member of a group of conservative legislators known as the Illinois Freedom Caucus, on Wednesday said that Tracy has ably performed the main duties of state party chair, including legal and campaign support for Republican candidates and county organizations. He said it would be a mistake to unseat him before his replacements can be vetted.
“There is no question we have some issues to resolve in our party,” Caulkins wrote in a media release. “Some require immediate attention and others can be addressed after November. My concern is that the selection process is rushed and ill timed. We are setting up whoever takes over the chairmanship for failure.”
Caulkins publicly asked Tracy to delay his resignation through the Nov. 19 election and the rest of the calendar year.
“The reality is the truncated timetable prohibits them from making a strong case for their candidacy,” Caulkins wrote. “We gain nothing by rushing this important decision and we risk losing traction in a state that we can ill afford to cede anymore ground to the Democrats.”
Republicans haven’t held statewide office since former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2019 closed out a single term, and they’re in the super-minority in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly.
The Republican National Convention, during which former President Donald Trump is set to officially become the party’s presidential nominee, begins Monday. Planning for the RNC has been underway for months.
Cabello and Del Mar will formally attend the RNC — Cabello as one of three delegates from the 16th Congressional District and Del Mar as one of 13 statewide delegates.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]