By Illinois Review
The race amongst the Illinois Republican Party’s State Central Committee to be the next Republican National Committeeman is heating up as candidates campaign to replace outgoing national committeeman Richard Porter and national committeewoman Demetra Demonte, who cannot run for a third time because of term limits.
While the state central committee represents the governing board of the IL GOP, the national committeeman – one male and one female, represents the state party along with the state GOP chairman before the Republican National Committee The position requires frequent travel to RNC meetings throughout the country and they are elected by delegates at the state convention. The national committeeman also votes in the RNC chairman’s election, and last year, Porter, Demonte and IL GOP chairman Don Tracy all voted to support Ronna Romney-McDaniel over the grassroots-backed candidate Harmeet Dhillon.
Running to replace Porter are three candidates: state central committee members Mark Shaw and Dean White, and IL GOP Finance Committee Chair Vince Kolber.
In 2018, Shaw was elected co-chairman of the IL GOP alongside Tim Schneider. As the Lake County GOP chair and co-chair of the state party, Shaw was also charged with serving as a liaison to the grassroots-base of the party as the grassroots outreach coordinator. Shaw also oversaw efforts to defeat first-time political candidate JB Pritzker who was running against Gov. Bruce Rauner. Shaw also promised big wins for Illinois Republicans in 2018, saying,
“I look forward to working with Tim in my new role to focus our party’s attention on the grassroots and do the important organizing work to reelect Gov. Rauner, elect more Republicans statewide, and build our party at the statewide and local level.”
Pritzker would go on and defeat Rauner by a staggering 16 points as Democrats expanded their super majority control in the Illinois legislature and swept the statewide offices – further cementing their control over local and statewide matters.
In 2021, Shaw ran unsuccessfully to remain chair of the IL GOP. During the 2022 Republican primary, Shaw was the Lake County GOP chair when Nimish Jani bussed Indian-American senior citizens to the Lake County Republican straw poll to rig the poll in favor of his candidate Richard Irvin. The senior citizens, escorted by staff wearing Irvin-Bourne tee shirts, arrived at the meeting with pre-filled ballots. Irvin would win the straw poll with 144 votes and his campaign used the poll to prove that his message was resonating with Republican voters.
Shaw continues to take the position that the straw poll election, conducted under his watch, was fair. Irvin would go on to lose the primary election to the grassroots-backed candidate by 43 points despite receiving more than $50 million in funding.
In February, Shaw, who is an Illinois advisor to the Trump campaign and a Trump delegate, was listed as a co-host for the IL GOP’s Bank Your Vote Gala in Rosemont that featured U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-La). The co-chair of the gala was Greg Hart – a pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” who continues to bash the wildly popular former president and presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States on his social media accounts, repeatedly writing that Trump is “not fit to be leader of the free world.”
And during the gala, none of the speakers mentioned Trump’s name on stage – deliberately avoiding him altogether. A point that surprised many in attendance. The gala also did not include any Trump signs or materials.
Vince Kolber is chair of the IL GOP’s finance committee and he is registered to vote as a resident in Illinois and Wisconsin – voting in both states over the last several years, as records reveal.
In December of 2022, he offended a room full of hardworking grassroots conservatives, when he asked the crowd during a SSC meeting,
“I assume all of you have donated to the IL GOP?”
And when the room yelled back,
“No!”
He replied,
“No? Then what are you doing here?”
The comment drew an immediate reaction from the crowd, still stunned that a GOP leader would say something so offensive to a room full of hardworking, grassroots patriots – many of whom had driven hours, just for their voices to be heard.
And judging by the negative reaction from the crowd, SSC member and ally of Kolber, Jeanne Ives, jumped up from her seat, in defense of Kolber, screaming,
“Vince is not your problem! This man gave me $750,000 when I ran against Gov. Bruce Rauner!”
Dean White is new to the political scene. As a businessman and owner of a successful fencing company, White entered the scene working with businessman Gary Rabine during his 2022 campaign for Illinois governor. Rabine is close with Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk and was an early investor in TPUSA. Kirk endorsed Rabine’s bid for governor. White remains financially supportive of grassroots organizations and he is frequently spotted at grassroots-hosted events across the northern part of the state.
The race to replace Demetra Demonte is heating up as well and includes three candidates: SSC members Joan Lasonde and Jeanne Ives, and Julie Cho.
The election takes place during the IL GOP State Convention from May 24-25, 2024, in Collinsville, Illinois.
