By Illinois Review
From the very moment President Donald Trump secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination for President of the United States, state Republican organizations from across the country immediately began posting congratulatory messages on their official state parties’ social media pages.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump on becoming the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States,” said the Republican Party of Wisconsin on their Facebook page.
“Congratulations to Donald Trump on officially becoming the presumptive GOP nominee. Now we need to focus on uniting to beat Joe Biden in November. Trump is leading Biden in Maine polls. Our electoral college voters are in play and could be decisive. Help us win: go to MaineGOP.com to pitch in,” wrote the Maine Republican Party.
“Chairman McDonald has been with President Trump since 2015, he was the very first RNC Member to endorse him! Chairman McDonald & the NVGOP have continued to be supporters of our former President. We’d like to congratulate him on his victories last night! Onward to November!,” wrote the Nevada GOP.
“Congratulations President Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for President,” wrote the Republican Party of Kentucky.
And, “Last night, President Donald J. Trump received enough delegates to clinch the Republican Nomination for President of the United States!,” wrote the Rhode Island Republican Party.
The Illinois Republican Party, however, remains silent, preferring to post about proposed tax hikes in Chicago instead. But this comes as no surprise – and just last month, the IL GOP hosted a gala and state party officials, including IL GOP chairman Don Tracy, named pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” Greg Hart as the event’s distinguished co-chair. Hart remains critical of Trump. On. June 8, 2023, Hart posted on his personal X account,
“I think Donald Trump is not fit to be leader of the free world.”
In another post on X, Hart posted,
“Yet another sickening statement from someone who is not fit to be President.”
Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter, a top advisor to IL GOP chair Don Tracy, endorsed Ron DeSantis for President. Porter was even in Miami last May for the launch of DeSantis’ doomed presidential campaign, writing on his personal Facebook page,
“I am down in Miami helping DeSantis with his launch, and I am working the phones and emails to raise first day money for him — could you give today?”
During Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair a few months later, Porter gave an interview to the Chicago Tribune and said that Trump was running for president to avoid going to jail.
“I think the most ardent Trumpers recognize that they might love him in their heart, but they know in their head he is not going to win independents in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, Arizona and Nevada. And that’s what you need to do to become president. And if you don’t become president of the United States, Trump goes to jail.”
After this publication ran a story on his reported comments, Porter was in damage control mode, offering a long explanation to try and repair the damage – but it was too little, too late.
And former Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin – a close friend and ally of both Porter and Tracy, likes to blame Trump for every Republican election loss in Illinois. Last November, Durkin announced that he was not going to run for Cook County State’s Attorney and he blamed President Trump for his decision not to throw his hat in this year’s race.
“I know that if you’re going to run in a race, you have to run knowing that you have a good chance of winning, and I see no path winning with Trump at the top of the ticket,” Durkin told CBS Chicago anchor Brad Edwards.
“The fact is it’s going to be a terrible time for Republicans if he is going to be at the top of the ticket, and my calculation suggested that that’s what’s going to happen.”
But even before Trump, Durkin had a history of losing. In 2002, he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate, losing to incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Dick Durbin by a staggering 22 points. 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.
A year ago, Tracy and the IL GOP traveled down to Naples, Florida to host a private reception featuring former US Attorney General Bill Baar, who served as AG under the George HW Bush and Donald Trump presidential administrations.
Baar remains critical of Trump, and in November of 2022, he published a scathing opinion piece in the New York Post, writing,
“Unless the rest of the party goes along with him, he will burn the whole house down by leading ‘his people’ out of the GOP. Trump’s willingness to destroy the party if he does not get his way is not based on principle, but on his own supreme narcissism. His egoism makes him unable to think of a political party as anything but an extension of himself – a cult of personality.”
At the end of this month, Tracy and Porter return to Naples, Florida to host a reception featuring their honored guest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Naples remains a hot spot for former Illinois residents. AM 560 radio host Dan Proft even hosts his Chicago-based radio show, ironically called Chicago’s Morning Answer, from Naples – his full-time residence for the last two years where he’s registered to vote. In 2021, the station built his Naples studio, allowing him to speak to his less-privileged Chicago-based listeners every morning from the comfort of his southwest Florida digs.
Early on Friday morning, the IL GOP was back posting on their social media pages about President Biden, inflation and Chicago political corruption – everything except Trump, the leader of the national Republican Party.
