By Illinois Review
On Thursday, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick announced that he won’t be seeking a third-term as the county’s top law enforcement official – and instead, will be consolidating his efforts to run for governor of Illinois.
“Sheriff Mendrick is running for Governor of Illinois!!!,” said a Facebook post on James Mendrick DuPage County Sheriff. Mendrick then noted that it was not an easy decision, but the right one.
“My family and I have decided that we want our State back. We don’t like being fearful of crime that is randomly occurring now in our streets, homes and our retail stores due to soft on crime legislation. We don’t want to move out of Illinois like so much of our population. We really don’t. We love this state. That’s why I’ve decided to run for the Office of Governor of Illinois.”
Multiple sources also confirmed with this publication early this morning that Republican State Central Committee member Jeanne Ives – also a DuPage County resident, is supporting Mendrick’s candidacy and also serving in a behind-the-scenes advisory role. Ives is also rumored to be eying a run for governor or Lt. Governor.
Since her election to the State Central Committee in 2022, Ives has abandoned her base for the IL GOP elites – becoming part of the establishment instead of opposing it.
During the 2022 election cycle, Ives served as an advisor and endorsed her close friend, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau in his failed bid for Congress. As Illinois Review has reported in previous articles, Pekau routinely attacks his constituents online; harassed female Orland fire district candidates – following them in his car as they campaigned and knocked on doors in local neighborhoods; called Chicago Firefighters a “embarrassment to their profession;” and honored progressive liberal Marie Newman, who supported vaccinating children, with a Community Appreciation Award.
Ives routinely goes on the attack against this publication – the largest, conservative pro-grassroots news publication in the state. In an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business in April 2023, Ives offered a stunning on-the-record quote when asked to comment about IR, stating, “I don’t read their garbage.”
In January 2024, President Donald Trump shared an IR article on his personal Truth Social page. The president’s team and inner circle routinely read and follow this publication.
Sources also confirm to IR that during that same time frame, Ives proposed in a private meeting that the state central committee ban this publication, including then publisher Scott Kaspar and editor-in-chief Mark Vargas from attending all future meetings. The proposal was immediately shot down as a blatant violation of First Amendment rights.
During the 2024 presidential primary, Ives backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over President Trump – despite the former president leading the governor by over 30 points. And when his son, Donald Trump, Jr. visited the Chicagoland area on a book tour, Ives criticized the event and falsely claimed that they couldn’t sell tickets.
Ives hasn’t won a race since 2016 when she was a state representative in a deep red Republican district. Her primary challenge to Republican incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018 led to the election of JB Pritzker.
In 2020, she lost her congressional bid to U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D).
