By Illinois Review
The Illinois Republican State Central Committee is the governing body of the IL GOP, but the state party chairman’s race is proving why Illinois Republicans remain in the super minority as the 17 members collectively look like Joe Biden trying to find his way off a stage – as mass confusion overwhelms party leadership – creating more questions than answers.
On Friday, the SCC is expected to meet during an afternoon Zoom call to elect a new chairman, but late on Thursday, it appeared as if an overwhelming majority of the SCC had yet to actually read the bylaws governing the process – creating a nightmare scenario for the party in the super minority. As the bylaws state, the SCC must replace a party chairman within 60 days, and the person selected must then serve for the remainder of the original term. However, many SCC members continue to float an “interim” chairman, while others discuss a permanent chair. But if any of those options are pursued, it would require changing the party’s bylaws.
On Wednesday evening, three candidates submitted their applications for party chairman: Aaron Del Mar, John Cabello and Kathy Salvi – but it’s Salvi – the former GOP nominee for U.S. Senate that’s creating the most buzz amongst grassroots circles. For the last two years, Salvi has defended outgoing chairman Don Tracy, co-hosted state party fundraisers with Tracy, and was endorsed by gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin during the 2022 election cycle. Irvin was the state party’s favorite candidate – and Tracy’s too, although he won’t admit it – during the 2022 primary, but he lost in a landslide to the conservative grassroots-backed candidate by 43 points. And during the primary campaign, it was reported by WTTW’s Paris Schutz that in 2018, Irvin sent text messages calling Trump an “idiot” and a “bigoted racist.” Irvin also texted the friend, “I hate Trump too!”
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 failed candidate Greg Hart, who was running for DuPage County Board Chair. In the days leading up to the mailer, Hart’s wife Alex released a campaign video saying, “As DuPage chairman, Greg won’t change our laws supporting a woman’s right to choose, and he will always support women’s health.” And Hart remains 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. In February, Tracy, Salvi and Hart co-hosted a gala together that oddly featured conservative pro-life U.S. Sen. John Kennedy from Louisiana.
When this publication highlighted the IL GOP leadership’s pro-choice views and expressed outrage that party money was being used to fund pro-choice mailers – the SCC was silent. And pro-life groups for the most part, remained silent on the issue as well.
On Wednesday, retiring State. Sen. Dan Caulkins, a conservative from Decatur and member of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, released a statement urging the delay of Tracy’s resignation as state party chair, arguing that, “My concern is that the selection process is rushed and ill timed.”
And he’s right
