State GOP raises funds amid effort to impeach
Email from chairman shows extent that party is backing president
The Illinois Republican Party has tied its fate to President Donald Trump, using Democratic efforts to impeach him in an effort to raise funds in an era without the party’s previous patron, former Gov. Bruce Rauner.
In an email to supporters Thursday, state GOP Chairman Tim Schneider sought donations of between $10 and $100 for an “impeachment defense fund.” The email came the same day that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would move forward in drafting articles of impeachment against Trump.
“As the president has always said, this is the greatest WITCH HUNT we have ever seen!” Schneider said in the email.
He said the state GOP has “two objectives”: To help “Trump defend himself against the DC swamp” and to hold “House Democrat members like Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten accountable in 2020 for their impeachment votes.”
Underwood, of Naperville, and Casten, of Downers Grove, were elected last year to Congress in long-held Republican suburban and exurban districts. Casten defeated GOP Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton, while Underwood beat Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano.
“If you donate just $10 (or more!) to the party’s official IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE FUND, all proceeds will go toward pushing back against the Democrat impeachment sham and holding swing vote Illinois Democrat congressmen accountable for their impeachment votes,” Schneider wrote.
The email from Schneider shows how much the Illinois GOP has gone all-in to back Trump after Rauner’s loss last year to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Rauner, who picked Schneider to lead the state Republicans, had actively sought to distance himself from the controversial president until late in his reelection campaign, after nearly losing the GOP primary to former state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton. Ives is now trying to get the Republican nod to challenge Casten for Congress next year.
“We need to help President Trump fight the Democrats who are obsessed with overturning the results of the 2016 election. They tried with the Russia investigation and failed. Let’s make sure they fail again!” Schneider wrote.
“Take advantage of this unique opportunity to fight the impeachment witch hunt at home and in DC. Your help does not go unnoticed,” he wrote.
Despite Schneider’s rhetoric, any money raised by the “defense fund” will go to the Illinois Republican Party and not to any legal defense fund or to Trump’s campaign fund, according to the fundraising website.
The “impeachment defense fund” is the latest effort by Schneider to generate grassroots funding for the state party to make up for Rauner’s departure. From the time Rauner announced his candidacy for governor in June 2014, he and the campaign that he largely selffunded gave the state Republicans more than $36.8 million. That’s almost two-thirds of the $58 million the state GOP collected over the same time period.
The state GOP reported having $101,369 at the end of September, comparable to the $120,503 it held in September 2017, during the previous election cycle.
But in 2017, the party spent nearly $600,000 in the third quarter thanks to a $500,000 donation from Rauner’s campaign. In the third quarter of this year, the party raised only $31,405 and spent $18,447.