CHICAGO – There's a lot of frustration once again growing within the IL GOP, and a fight over who will be taking over at the helm could be "a beaut," Chicago Crain's Greg Hinz wrote Sunday evening.
If all goes as exiting IL GOP Chairman Tim Schneider hopes, it will be a peaceful transition.
The IL GOP had yet another devastating loss in November. Democrats' Joe Biden won over incumbent Republican Donald Trump by nearly 17 points; US Senator Dick Durbin beat GOP challenger Mark Curran by 16 points; the US Congressional delegation failed to pick up two once-strongly red districts; and the Illinois Senate GOP caucus is at a decades low of a mere 18 members.
Despite those anti-Republican sentiments that have apparently spread from Chicago and the university towns to their surrounding counties, Governor Pritzker's effort to change the state constitution's flat tax to a graduated tax failed miserably, despite Pritzker's own $55 Million+ personal fund investment in a very blue state.
Despite all the angst in the IL GOP base, Schneider pointed to those "wins" in his exit statement Saturday afternoon, saying, "The Illinois Republican Party concludes the cycle more united, stronger, and well positioned to defeat the Pritzker-Madigan agenda in 2021."
He explained:
In the 2020 election cycle, the Illinois Republican Party played important roles in defeating Pritzker’s progressive income tax hike, defending congressional target Congressman Rodney Davis, kicking Madigan’s favorite judge Tom Kilbride off the state Supreme Court, electing David Overstreet to the state Supreme Court, and netting a seat in the Illinois House…
I believe the ILGOP is in a great position to take this momentum and regain the Governor’s mansion, win a US Senate seat, win majority control of the Supreme Court for the first time, and put up a strong fight in other races up and down the ballot in 2022.
So with all this to boast about, the Illinois Republican Party once again is at a crossroads: Do they follow the establishment elite, so-called "Pat Brady" path, or do they choose the path their conservative activist base has been begging for?
According to the IL GOP's press release, Schneider is stepping down after six years because he's ready to do so. It appears he may be planning to stay around until a committee of four State Central Committee members he's appointed find a replacement.
UPDATE from Joe Hackler, Executive Director Communications Director of the IL GOP, wrote concerning the above paragraph: "That committee of four people is not selecting a replacement. As the PR explains, that committee is recommending an open process and timeline while the full board will of course be selecting the new Chairman with their votes."
Those committee members line up on two sides of the battle lines: Mike Bigger (18th CD) and long-time Jim Durkin staffer Judy Diekelman (2nd CD) on the "Pat Brady" party side and Char Foss-Eggeman (9th CD) and Fred Floreth (13th CD) more on the conservative base side.
The former "Pat Brady" side of the equation line up with GOP powerhouses that endorsed and promoted John Kasich in the 2016 presidential bid and tend to promote "moderate" social views, Democrat tolerance and political career preservation. The conservative base has endured year after year of the Pat Brady mindset mocking them, telling them to get out of the party and take with them their conservative social views.
Illinois Review will be working on getting responses from names we've heard are in the mix to succeed Schneider – including State Central Committeeman Mark Shaw, Mike Bigger on one side and names from the conservative side, including former State Rep. Jeanne Ives, former GOP IL Senate candidate Tom McCullagh, Cubs owner Todd Ricketts and businessman Gary Rabine.
More to come …
