Illinois GOP pick businessman as party chairman
Don Tracy, a former state Gaming Board chairman and unsuccessful 2010 lieutenant governor candidate, was picked by top Republicans on Saturday as the new Illinois GOP chairman.
Springfield’s Tracy, an ardent backer of former oneterm GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, defeated Mark Shaw, the Lake County Republican chairman and state party co-chair for county outreach, and Scott Gryder, chairman of the Kendall County Board.
The election was based on the weighted votes of the 18-member Republican State Central Committee, which met in Bolingbrook. The vote was close, 52% for Tracy and 48% for Shaw, according to two sources, who asked not to be identified because the results were pledged by members to remain secret. The party then agreed to make the choice unanimous.
“I promise to lead with honesty, integrity, and the vigor we need to turn Illinois around,” Tracy said in a statement after hours of candidate interviews and discussion.
Contending the GOP has “tremendous opportunities” in 2022 in what is now a one-party Democratic state, Tracy emphasized the need for unity.
“Regardless of our differences, Republicans are the only hope for turning Illinois around and keeping it from becoming a depopulated, overtaxed and antipolice financial basket case,” he said. “There’s too much at stake in 2022 to be anything less than a united band of brothers and sisters in the fight to save Illinois.”
The pick of Tracy was viewed as the choice of moderative-to-conservative establishment Republicans over Shaw, a sometimes controversial figure who previously sought the chairmanship. Shaw orchestrated the December effort among hard-liners that led former Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider to agree to step down as party leader with more than a year left in his term. Schneider was Rauner’s hand-picked choice for GOP chair in May 2014.
The choice of Tracy, an attorney and businessman, comes at a critical time for Illinois Republicans who have faced internal fissures over the party’s future direction, been shut out of all statewide offices and hold superminorities in the Illinois House and Senate.
Those cracks have been exacerbated by former President Donald Trump’s controversial tenure. Some Republicans, notably GOP U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, oppose Trump and don’t think he should continue to lead the party.
State GOP leaders said they wanted to pick a candidate to unify the party, which also faces a split between suburban moderates who saw their influence severely eroded, and Downstate conservatives who embraced Trump and have given the region Republican dominance.
“Whatever your political leanings, wherever you live, if you want to fight corruption, restore fiscal sanity, grow our economy and stand for law and order, you’re on our team,” Tracy said. “It’s time to suit up, work together and bring home some wins for the people of Illinois.”
Tracy, a co-owner of the family business, Mount Sterling-based food distributor Dot Foods, is the brother-in-law of Republican state Sen. Jil Tracy of Quincy, the Senate’s minority caucus whip and unsuccessful 2014 lieutenant governor candidate. Don Tracy previously sought the chairmanship unsuccessfully in 2014 and becomes the first state GOP chair from outside the Chicago area since 1988.
In the last election cycle, federal campaign disclosure reports show Tracy gave more than $400,000 to various Republican candidates and causes including $93,300 to Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee for Trump’s reelection, the Republican National Committee and 11 state GOP organizations. He also gave another $2,800 to the president’s personal reelection fund, $92,200 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $100,000 to the victory committee established by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.
Tracy has donated more than $400,000 to state candidates and causes since 1999, campaign finance records show, primarily to himself and his sister-inlaw, but also to local GOP causes and candidates in Springfield.
He also gave $25,000 to the successful effort to defeat Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s effort to have voters approve a graduatedrate income tax amendment to the state constitution on Nov. 3.
Tracy also has given more than $10,000 over the years to Family PAC, a socially conservative group that has fought abortion and gay rights in Springfield, state records show. Tracy has long opposed abortion rights and has touted his support of gunowner rights.