By Illinois Review
Over the weekend, Illinois Republican Party chair Don Tracy sent out a mailer to registered Republican voters with a special gift enclosed – a Sustaining Membership Card for the 2024 election year embossed with your name in gold – and a message that this card “speaks volumes about your patriotism” and “it’s a testament to to your investments in our Party and our candidates.”
The letter goes on to say that “it’s not always easy being a Republican in Illinois, but this year, there is hope.”
And why is there so much hope? Because according to Tracy, “all the data I’ve seen tells me this could be one of those years where twenty years from now we look back and realize this was the beginning of something big.”
Tracy is no stranger to feeding the big lie. In July of 2022 – just four months before the midterm election, Tracy promised voters that IL GOP leaders would help “elect Republicans statewide and up and down the ballot in November.”
Tracy continued:
“Our party is strong, it’s united, and it will be successful in the upcoming election as more and more people wake up to the realities of failed Democrat leadership in Washington DC and Springfield. The working families of Illinois simply want safe communities, a lower cost of living, and a government that works for them, not corrupt politicians.”
The state party chair then concluded with,
“That’s what Illinois Republicans will deliver!”
Instead, four months later – Tracy and Illinois Republican leaders delivered massive and widespread losses – mirroring the Cleveland Brown’s football season in 2017 when they went 0-16.
And as the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board pointed out in a November 11, 2022 editorial,
“Republicans lost every state constitutional office – governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer – and 14 of 17 congressional seats. In the General Assembly, not only did the GOP fail to gain any ground on Democrats’ supermajority, Democrats notched a record number of seats in the Illinois House. And in the Illinois Supreme Court, where Republicans had an opportunity to gain two seats…they came up short. Democrats now have a comfortable 5-2 edge in the state’s high court.”
The losses even forced Tracy’s friend and the darling of the IL GOP – Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin to resign in disgrace. But on his way out the door, Durkin didn’t take any responsibility for the losses and instead placed all the blame on former President Donald Trump – who was not on the ballot.
From 2013-2023, Durkin served as the House Republican Leader where he maintained his party’s status in the minority. In 2012, the year before Durkin was elected minority leader, there were 54 House Republicans – and when Durkin stepped down as leader and resigned from the legislature in 2023, there were only 40 House Republicans.
In other words – Durkin has been losing way before Trump entered the scene. And the numbers prove it.
Under Tracy’s leadership, the state party remains anti-Trump – and in October of 2022 – just a month before the midterm election, Tracy and the IL GOP paid for a pro-choice mailer in support of their new star Greg Hart, who was running for DuPage County Board Chair – a direct violation of the state party’s pro-life platform.
Hart would go on and lose the election.
This weekend, Hart is co-chairing a gala hosted by his mentor Tracy and the IL GOP featuring U.S. Sen. John Kennedy – a conservative, pro-life Republican from Louisiana and a friend of Trump.
But there’s one major problem: Hart is a pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” who continues to bash the wildly popular former president and leading Republican candidate for President on his social media accounts – calling Trump “a general election loser” and “unfit to lead.”
Tracy, who supports anti-Trump candidates financially with personal donations, said recently that the IL GOP will remain neutral in the presidential primary despite Trump leading his only opponent Nikki Haley by 56 points nationally.
Last Spring, Tracy made a personal donation to Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s campaign, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections website.
During Irvin’s failed campaign for governor in 2022 – where he lost to the Trump-endorsed candidate by a staggering 43 points despite having the support of a majority of the IL GOP leadership including Tracy’s best friend Jim Durkin – it was uncovered by WTTW that Irvin called Trump an “idiot” and a “bigoted racist” in text messages that were shared with reporters.
Irvin also refused to answer reporters’ questions during the campaign if he voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Despite calls from conservative grassroots, pro-Trump Illinois Republicans for Tracy to resign – the embattled chair remains in his position.
In June, 30 organizations representing over 80,000 conservative grassroots activists from across the state, signed an open letter calling on the Illinois Republican State Central Committee to remove Don Tracy as chair of the state party in a motion of “No Confidence.”
During a closed door meeting, the state central committee voted to keep Tracy in place. Why? According to financial records with the state board of elections, Tracy and his family-owned business remain one of the largest donors to the IL GOP.
Tracy has proven that he can’t buy an election – but he can certainly buy a seat in the form of a party chair. He’s also proven he can’t win one either.
But who cares – to the IL GOP – money has always mattered more than winning. And their record proves it.
