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Gwen Pepin
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Chicago, IL – In case you missed it, the IL GOP is crumbling with their Chair abruptly resigning amidst Party chaos and infighting and the messy ousting of Vice Chair Mark Shaw.
From Chicago Tribune: The party instability comes less than a month before the state’s 64-member delegation heads to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention’s nomination of former President Donald Trump. The entire delegation is pledged to Trump, including Shaw and Tracy. But conventions are typically designed to display party unity — an element lacking within the Illinois GOP leadership.
From Illinois Playbook: During his three years leading the state GOP, Tracy tried to hold both establishment and right-leaning segments together but faced headwinds at every turn. The other challenge: The party is struggling for relevance in a state where the state-wide holders are all Democrats.
From Chicago Sun-Times: Tracy proved unable to stanch a hemorrhage of Republican support in Chicago’s suburbs, once a reliable well of fiscally conservative, socially moderate GOP votes that has dried up for the party thanks largely to the unpopularity there of former President Donald Trump.
From NPR Illinois: It appears drama from the recent state convention may have been the final straw. “We need to lower the room temperature,” Tracy told Politico after the event that resulted in calls for the vice-chair to step aside.
From State Journal-Register: What pushed him to make the decision, Tracy wrote in a resignation letter, was infighting among party members.
From the Lake Forest Patch: The Illinois Republican State Central Committee voted Monday to remove vice chair Mark Shaw in response to allegations regarding his conduct at last month’s state GOP convention, where he was accused of having voted as a delegate despite not being one and challenging someone to a fight.
The Hill: Tracy also noted the recent controversy pertaining to former vice chair Mark Shaw at the Republican National Committee (RNC) election in which Shaw tried to be a delegate and vote for himself as a committee member and threatened to kick a GOP member, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Things aren’t looking too great for the Illinois Republican Party.
