By Illinois Review
Disgraced Chicago Republican Party Chairman Steve Boulton, who embarassingly secured just 24 votes as a write-in candidate during March’s Primary after failing to submit the required signatures to earn a spot on the ballot, was in Springfield on Wednesday meeting with Republican leaders and a local representative of the Illinois Trump campaign.
In an email to Chicago GOP committeemen from the state capitol, Boulton wrote
“I write from a very loud Capitol Rotunda waiting to meet with Minority Leader Toni McCombie after a visit to the office of Senate Leader Curran, and a few different Representatives in the Stratton Office Building.
The message is I had a great lunch with Travis Aiken, who is head of the 2024 Trump Campaign in Illinois. Like the folks in Mar-a-Lago, he is very intrigued with the growth in the GOP in Chicago. I advised him of our direct communications with Mar-a-Logo, and the possible President Trump visit here, while pitching for campaign resources to be put in Chicago, arguing that if the migrant crisis continues to explode Illinois could actually be in play, under the radar.
Travis and I hit it off personally, and I think he took my message seriously. Time will tell.”
During the 2016 presidential primary, Boulton endorsed Never Trumper John Kasich, writing in a Facebook post,
“Kasich is the very successful and popular Governor of a major American state with excellent experience as a chief executive in government, but Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are not. I also have gained the distinct impression that when it is required, John Kasich can be as tough as nails. You don’t reach the heights he has by being a milquetoast. He’s just not a screamer, or a divider by his noise. Successful Presidents have not needed to be loud. He also strikes me as a leader who looks at the whole picture, not just the partisan sections. I understand and admire the passion, but we need some common sense now. I’m voting for John Kasich.”
In March of 2016, Boulton went so far as to suggest that presidential candidate Donald Trump sounded a lot like Adolf Hitler, writing,
“This Trump oath thing has even me freaked out a bit in its echoes of Hitler, who made the entire German Army officer corps swear an oath to be personally loyal to him. Way too far, Your Narcissism, way too far. This is America. Vote Kasich.”
A year before that, in December of 2015, Boulton expressed his frustrations of having Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the only two options to choose from, writing,
“I’m distressed in this election because our system has failed to give us reasonable, powerful candidates. I think our political structure is bankrupt, if all it can offer us is Trump vs. Hillary. Both are fundamentally flawed.”
Kasich continues to slam President Trump, saying recently,
“When I took on Trump, from the beginning — refused to endorse him, refused to go to the convention, endorsed Joe Biden — I’m not calling myself out as a great leader. But what I’ll say is: So what? I did what I felt I had to do. And today, I look in the mirror, I’m proud of myself. And so is my family and my friends, and more people are coming to the conclusion that maybe Kasich was right.”
Neither Boulton or the Republican organization that he leads in Chicago, has endorsed Trump this election cycle. Boulton also remains a close ally and political advisor to IL GOP chairman Don Tracy and Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter. During the 2024 presidential primary, Porter endorsed Ron DeSantis for President. And last month, the IL GOP, including Tracy and Porter hosted a fundraiser in Naples, Florida featuring Gov. DeSantis as their honored guest.
In March of last year, Tracy and IL GOP leaders, including Porter went down to Naples – once again, 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.”
During Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair last August, Porter took the bait, feeding the Democratic narrative that Trump is running for president to avoid going to jail during an interview with a reporter from the Chicago Tribune.
“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 published a story on his comments, Porter was in damage control, quickly issuing a long statement attempting to clarify his remarks – but the damage was already done.
During the IL GOP’s gala this past February that featured honored guest – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy – a conservative, pro-life Republican from Louisiana – state party officials, including Tracy and Porter, named Greg Hart – a pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” who continues to bash the wildly popular former president and presumptive Republican nominee for President on his social media accounts, as the event’s honored 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 [Donald Trump] who is not fit to be President.”
Over the last year, Illinois Review published several articles exposing Boulton as a man with anger issues who constantly attacks his fellow locally-elected Republican ward committeeman and grassroots conservatives – and who believes that if you are unvaccinated, then you should pay for your own hospital costs; and if you require lifesaving measures due to COVID-19 – the resources spent to save your life would be a “waste” of money.
Boulton oversaw an organization that couldn’t recruit or fund a single candidate to run for Chicago mayor in a town of 2.6 million residents, and at one point had 18 vacancies for the position of ward committeeman within his organization.
Sources have shared with this publication that Boulton has been quietly job hunting in Washington, DC.
