By Illinois Review
Safe Suburbs USA PAC founder, Naperville Library Board Trustee and suburban real estate attorney Kevin Coyne, who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the 2024 Republican presidential primary, had some harsh words for presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump – calling the former president “political poison” and a “disaster,” and suggesting in a bizarre social media post that a majority of GOP voters don’t support the 2nd Amendment.
The Safe Suburbs USA PAC, which Coyne founded in 2021 “to promote public safety and the welfare of suburban residents,” raises money to support and endorse pro-law enforcement candidates. In 2022, the PAC received two donations totaling $5,500 from Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin – a friend and confidant of outgoing IL GOP chairman Don Tracy and infamous Never Trumper.
In November 2022, the day after the election, Durkin announced that he was resigning as House Minority Leader. During the midterm election, Durkin suffered embarrassing losses, giving House Democrats once again, supermajority control in the Illinois House. And just days before resigning from office, Durkin was the only Republican to join the Democrats, voting in favor of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s unconstitutional assault weapons ban – a move that angered Republicans across the state.
In media interviews after announcing his resignation as House GOP leader, Durkin attempted to place all of the blame on former President Donald Trump, saying, “As long as we continue to say that we are the party of Trump and that we have to abide by the party principles in the platform, 100% we’re gonna continue down this path of losing.”
In February, during an interview with a local news publication favored by Tracy, Coyne said, “In the suburbs, Trump is political poison. Anyone on the ballot is facing a huge uphill climb when you have that kind of disaster at the top [of the ticket].” Coyne went on in an attempt to further distance himself from Trump, and “remind people that all Republicans are not the same.”
Back in August, Coyne’s PAC posted on X a “post mugshot poll” – taking a shot at Trump, who had his mugshot taken earlier in the day in Fulton County, Georgia as part of disgraced District Attorney Fani Willis’ election fraud investigation. Trump dominated the poll, beating DeSantis by 35 points.
On Sunday, Safe Suburbs USA PAC posted on X slamming the grassroots Trump Republicans in Illinois who are gaining influence in the state and suggested that a majority of Republican voters are not pro-life or pro-2nd Amendment, writing,
“Once you cross 88, Trump isn’t popular even with Republicans and even a great many R voters don’t identify as either pro-Life or pro-2A. More embarrassing elections to come for the ILGOP if the plan is to run far Right candidates statewide or in the suburbs.”
Despite Coyne’s analysis, an overwhelming majority of Republican voters support the 2nd Amendment and the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.” And both the Republican National Committee and the IL GOP bylaws affirm a pro-life Republican platform.
The PAC has also taken aim and blamed the conservative base of the party for Tracy’s resignation, posting, “Let’s run far Right candidates in deep Blue State in which R voters are fleeing by the day and in which the GOP faces a 20 to 1 financial disparity. This strategy should work swimmingly…for Democrats!”
Several days ago, Tracy submitted his resignation as party chairman effective July 19th – blaming the rise of the “grassroots,” party infighting and the removal of state central committee member Mark Shaw as vice chairman of the party without “due process” as the embattled leader of the IL GOP presided over widespread and massive losses during his brief tenure as chairman.
Over a week ago, Vince Kolber, who served as chairman of the IL GOP Finance Committee, abruptly resigned in an angry letter to Tracy, just weeks after the influential conservative grassroots base of the Illinois Republican Party scored major victories during the GOP State Convention in Collinsville – and after two years of unflattering stories by this publication. Kolber, who is registered to vote in Illinois and Wisconsin, was still angry about losing his election at the state convention for national committeeman – after being eliminated in the first round to Mark Shaw, who faked a delegate badge, voted illegally and threatened to beat up a fellow state central committee member. During the first day of the convention, the Republican National Committeeman nominating committee voted 14-3 to keep Kolber on the ballot despite failing to meet the candidacy requirements as outlined by the IL GOP’s own bylaws.
The Safe Suburbs USA PAC has just named the candidates the organization will be endorsing during the 2024 election cycle:
Mary Cole for Lake County State’s Attorney
Aaron Porter for State Representative, 81st District
Gabby Shanahan for State Representative, 97th District
Kenton Skarin for Appellate Court, 3rd District
Jennifer Sanalitro for State Representative, 48th District
Chuck Maher for Will County Executive
Raquel Mitchell for Will County Recorder of Deeds
Vince Logan for Will County Board, District 7
Cindy Cronin Cahill for DuPage County Board, District 1
Nicole La Ha Zwiercan for State Representative, 82nd District
Patty Gustin for DuPage County Board, District 5
Baron Leacock for DuPage County Board, District 3
Nicole Prater for DuPage County Recorder
Regan Deering for State Representative, 88th District
Eric Weis for Kendall County State’s Attorney
Joe Soto for DuPage County Board, District 6
Matt Prochaska for Kendall County Circuit Clerk
Laura Hois for DuPage County Board, District 2
Dave Scriven-Young for Will County Board, District 10
Eileen O’Neil Burke for Cook County States Attorney
Robert Berlin for DuPage County States Attorney
James Glasgow for Will County States Attorney
Jamie Mosser for Kane County States Attorney
Dennis Reboletti for State Representative – District 45
Lance Bell for Kane County Board Chairman
Martin McLaughlin for State Representative – District 52
Katie Dean-Schlottman for Illinois Senate – District 49
Heather Brown for Illinois Senate – District 25
Annette Corrigan for DuPage County Board – District 4
Patricia Bonk for State Representative – District 30
Tosi Ufodike for State Representative – District 51
Jeff Castle for DuPage County Forest Preserve – District 4
Coyne’s comments in the press and social media posts critical of Trump and the grassroots will not be well received by the influential base of the Illinois Republican Party. And Trump leads Biden in virtually every national poll and in key swing state races.
