Party infighting leads to Illinois GOP chairman stepping down

A tall task awaits Illinois Republicans in November as the party tries to capture a foothold in the deep blue state. It will be doing so, however, without its chairman.

Springfield attorney and businessman Don Tracy, the former head of the Illinois Gaming Board, announced on June 18 that he will be stepping down as party chairman.

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His decision comes less than one month away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where his resignation will go into effect no later than July 19 — the last day of the convention. The party will send 64 delegates to the convention including Tracy.

Republicans elected Tracy in February 2021, becoming the first chairman from downstate since fellow Springfield resident Donald "Doc" Adams' term from 1973 to 1988. He said then that he planned on "making Illinois a two-party state again," a goal he ultimately did not fulfill. Democrats continued their hold of all statewide offices during the 2022 midterm elections, while adding seats in the Illinois General Assembly and having 14 out of the state's 17 congressmen.

What pushed him to make the decision, Tracy wrote in a resignation letter, was infighting among party members.

“When I took on this full-time volunteer job in February 2021, I thought I would be spending most of my time fighting Democrats, helping elect Republicans, raising money to pay for more Party infrastructure, and advocating for Party unity," Tracy wrote to fellow Republicans. "Unfortunately, however, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities that continued after primaries and County Chair elections.”

Tracy wanted Republicans to make up grounds in previously competitive counties surrounding Chicago, well-populated areas that could turn elections in their favor. Instead, the party has largely won the land game particularly downstate but not the votes.

Such was the case in 2022 when Gov. JB Pritzker needed just 12 out of the state's 102 counties to dispatch Republican challenger and then-state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia handily.

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The Democratic Party of Illinois pounced on the opportunity to assert Republicans were in disarray, adding the party had followed a "strict adherence to a losing set of anti-choice, anti-worker, pro-Trump policies" in a statement. It projects the next chair will be a "MAGA extremist" although no official plans for Tracy's replacement had been announced as of Thursday morning.

Tracy's resignation comes after Republicans voted to remove state party vice chair Mark Shaw two days prior. The decision to remove Shaw, previously gunning to be a Republican National Committeeman during a contentious state party convention in Collinsville last month, Tracy maintained lacked due process and "portends a direction of the state party I am not comfortable with."

Contact Patrick M. Keck: pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy stepping down, cites intra party tensions