By Illinois Review
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy is a busy man – running the IL GOP when he can find some free time – but during the day, his valuable time is spent helping to run his family-owned business, Dot Foods, Inc. – the nation’s largest distributor of food and food related products. Employing more than 6,000 people in the US and Canada, the company is headquartered in Mt. Sterling, Illinois.
Tracy is proud of the family business, where he is an owner – and he even includes it in his official biography on the IL GOP website under, “Meet Our Chairman,” and he often talks about the business during speeches at GOP events across the state – earning the nickname, “Dot Foods Don.”
But over the last six years, owners of Dot Foods have made some political donations that tell an interesting story.
In 2020, owners of Dot Foods made a $6,193 donation to Joe Biden.
And in 2022, owners made a $3,900 donation to US Sen. Lisa Murkowski,R.; a $4,900 donation to US Rep. Rodney Davis, R.; and a $51,000 donation to the Republican Party of Illinois.
Sen. Murkowski remains one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics. After January 6th, she supported his impeachment and removal from office. On January 9, 2021, Murkowski said, “I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage.”
In 2020, US Rep. Rodney Davis was one of 35 House Republicans to support the January 6th Commission to investigate the attack on the US Capitol – a move that angered Trump.
Davis has also said that he’d vote for Liz Cheney for president; he supported some forms of Black Lives Matter ideologies; he said Trump needed to “grow up;” and in 2016, he withdrew his endorsement of then GOP nominee for President Donald Trump.
And so it was no surprise that on June 2nd, Dot Foods posted a message on Twitter celebrating Pride Month, tweeting,
“Our employees should be comfortable – and PROUD – to be who they are at work. We must work together to make our workplace more welcoming and supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community. Join Dot Transportation, Inc. in celebrating Pride month. #Pride #DotFoods”
As chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Tracy has a responsibility and an obligation to “support the platform and uphold its planks,” as outlined in the Illinois Republican Party Platform which was adopted on October 3, 2020 during the Illinois Republican Virtual State Convention.
Tracy also has a responsibility and an obligation to uphold the Republican Party Platform, which opposes same sex marriage and transgender rights, among other things.
But by celebrating Pride Month and LGBTQIA2S+ rights, Tracy is in direct violation of the platform and core principles of the Republican Party – both nationally and in Illinois.
In April, the Republican-controlled Congress, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, passed legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in female athletics in school.
During a press conference after the legislation passed, Speaker McCarthy said,
“Today is a great day for America, for fairness, for families, and most importantly, for female athletes. House Republicans pledged before the last election to protect women and girls in sports. Today we kept that promise…”
Speaker McCarthy remains close allies with Illinois Republican national committeeman Richard Porter and Tracy – and on June 2nd, Speaker McCarthy was the keynote speaker at the Lake County Republican Federation annual Spring Gala.
Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, has lost a staggering $27 billion in market value in just six weeks when Bud Light partnered with transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney on April 1st for a promo, leading to a nationwide boycott and a nearly 26 percent drop in overall sales.
And Target, one of the largest retailers in the country, lost a whopping $4 billion in market value in one week over its 2023 Pride collection.
The key takeaway: Americans are tired of companies pushing woke agendas on customers – and they’re fighting back in the form of boycotts – and it’s tanking companies.
In June 2021, Dot Foods posted a message on Twitter, wishing everyone a Happy Pride month, and included their updated logo reflecting their support of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
In June 2022, Dot Foods celebrated Pride month by a series of events, including #TieDyeForPride, where they dyed t-shirts.
During the pandemic, Dot Foods ran a #WhyIMask campaign, and encouraged employees to submit photos wearing a mask.
In one Facebook post, the official Dot Foods Careers page encouraged employees to submit photos, asking, “we’d love to know who you wear a mask for!”
The post also encouraged employees to submit their photos to a special Dot Foods email address along with a “photo of you wearing your mask OR a photo of you with the people you wear a mask for and a sentence or two about why you wear a mask.”
During the 2022 general election, Tracy supported and endorsed a pro-choice, pro-same sex marriage and pro-transgender rights candidate – even hosting a fundraiser in the last month of the election to help the Democratic candidate who was running on the Republican ballot.
The candidate would lose by 38 points in a landslide – proving yet again that Don Tracy has a niche for violating the party platform and backing losing candidates.
