Illinois Republicans need a more centrist, unity message to regain relevance

Don Tracy, then chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, speaks at the Republican Day rally at the 2023 Illinois State Fair.
Photo from the Chicago Sun-Times

Under other circumstances, last week’s resignation of Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy would seem like an opportunity to put the GOP back on the path to relevance in Illinois. But both the circumstances of Tracy’s departure and the resulting reaction suggest reasons for concern.

Downstate Sen. Darren Bailey, who mustered just over 40% of the vote in his bid to unseat Gov. JB Pritzker in 2022, called Tracy’s resignation a “cleansing” of the party, an unfortunate term that resonates across the country. both with chilling historical implications and suggests the very notion of purity testing that has been at the heart of Republicans’ struggles in Illinois.

Tracy hinted at these difficulties in her prepared statement explaining her reasons for leaving her position.

“I had to spend far too much time dealing with the intra-party power struggles and local intra-party animosities that continued after the primaries and county chair elections,” Tracy wrote.

Republican Sen. Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, lamented that “you have a circular firing squad that seems to be the Republican Party these days.”

These images suggest that a range of factors are behind the current weakness of the Republican Party. Still, it cannot be denied that a certain strain of the Illinois Republican Party is pinning its hopes for the future on its own particular definition of “real Republican” rank-and-file, focused on sowing suspicion about who is responsible for the government and animosity towards anything other than their own strict and personal views. defined social values.

It’s a tension that somehow failed to see what happened to the Republican Party in suburban Chicago. A decade ago, the best candidates Democrats could muster for positions ranging from county clerk to congressman in counties like DuPage, Kane and Lake and many pockets of Northwest Cook County were desperate chips offered under the simple pretext of giving voters a “choice”. “Today, Democrats are not only competitive, but hold key positions in county government in all of these counties, the majority in their county councils, most of the suburban state legislative positions, and all seven seats in Collar Counties Congress.

Of Illinois’ 17 congressional districts, only three are represented by Republicans.

If the Republican Party’s message is indeed what former state Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives of Wheaton calls opposition to Democrats’ “policy prescriptions that have destroyed…opportunities for the working class in this state,” candidates and party leaders have done a poor job of impressing him with Illinois voters.

The looming November elections offer a chance for GOP electoral redemption, but only the most irrepressible Pollyanna expects such an outcome. Even if Donald Trump mounts a formidable national campaign, Illinois’ recent experience doesn’t give much weight to the likelihood that his efforts will carry Republican candidates to victory here.

Which could? Two things our state badly needs.

One is the resurgence of centrist positions that led Republicans to their previous dominance in the suburbs and thus provided a balance between Democratic control in Chicago and Republican Party influence downstate. The other is true unity that recognizes that the Republican Party is capable of a wide range of nuance that does not necessarily dissipate its commitment to personal liberties, economic fairness, and limited government.

Without these two elements, the party is doomed to a constant state of “opposition” to the entrenched Democratic leadership and the state will be doomed to unchecked one-party control. Illinois needs two strong parties competing to balance the varied interests of our diverse population, and it’s not as if Republicans are devoid of options. Suburban lawmakers like Sens. John Curran of Downers Grove and Don DeWitte of St. Charles and Reps. Seth Lewis of Bartlett and Don Stephens of Rosemont, among others, have demonstrated a clear interest in governance beyond simple obstruction .

But lately, the fierce efforts of a section of Republicans to redefine the party as a whole have only crippled its influence.

Boasting about “cleaning up” and “true Republicanism” in the wake of Tracy’s departure does not bode well for a change of this status. So perhaps the biggest challenge facing his successor will be getting the members of the firing squad to lay down their weapons and realize that they are on the same team.