Springfield, Illinois – Throughout 2025, the Democratic Party of Illinois has shone a light on the ILGOP’s betrayal of working families, especially U.S. Representatives Mary Miller (IL-15), Darin LaHood (IL-16) and Mike Bost (IL-12) undying loyalty to extreme right-wing policies. From their celebration of Donald Trump’s proclaimed “Golden Age of America,” while Illinoisans lose their jobs to a disgusting press conference outside of the late Emma Shafer’s home, DPI has repeatedly called out the ILGOP’s commitment to standing on the wrong side of history.
“Each month this year, Illinois Republicans proved that they cared more about Donald Trump, xenophobia, and selling out working families than progress for the Illinois communities they’re supposed to serve,” said Chair Lisa Hernandez. “While Democrats responded at every turn, 2025 proved just how far the ILGOP will go—stripping health care, threatening SNAP, supporting the harassment and kidnapping of families—to try to take us backwards.”
THE BIG UGLY BUDGET
Illinois Republicans stood behind the Big, Ugly Budget—legislation that is a war on poverty.
By attacking social services, Donald Trump and U.S. Representatives Mike Bost, Mary Miller, and Darin LaHood turned their backs on communities across Illinois. Roughly 470,000 Illinoisans will lose their Medicaid coverage because of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill—with many of these families living in Bost, Miller, and LaHood’s districts.
DPI’s GOP accountability efforts included highlighting reporting of the Big, Ugly Bill’s inception to its passing–including a multi-platform digital ad campaign highlighting the three Illinois GOP members of Congress who shamefully voted in support. The program reached over 1.2 million residents of the 12th, 15th, and 16th Congressional Districts.
ACA SUBSIDIES
Once again, Republicans chose billionaires over everyday Americans. Illinois Republicans Mary Miller, Mike Bost and Darin LaHood voted on a bill that does nothing to address the skyrocketing cost of health care premiums, rather than voting to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. By tomorrow, January 1, roughly 500,000 Illinoisans will see their health care premiums skyrocket by an average of 78% as a result of Republicans’ failure to act on expiring enhanced ACA premium tax credits.
GOP GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Earlier this year, Republicans were responsible for shutting down our federal government—jeopardizing the livelihoods of 45,000 federal workers in Illinois—45,000 people who needed to buy groceries, pay for housing and keep the lights on in Donald Trump’s economy with skyrocketing costs. In addition, the Party brought attention to lapses in SNAP when MAGA held our federal government hostage in their refusal to protect health care access.
BIGOTRY, RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA
Throughout the year, DPI Chair Hernandez has continuously used her voice to call out inhumane immigration tactics and xenophobia—particularly asking MAGA Republicans “what happened to the ‘worst of the worst’?” Instead of condemning the arrests of U.S. citizens, harassment of protesters, and kidnapping of mothers and fathers, Illinois Republicans make tweets like this. While Illinois Democrats fight to preserve the right to dignity for LGBTQ+ Illinoisans and push back against religious discrimination and racism, Representative Mary Miller pushed for the erasure of Pride Month and was offended by the presence of a Sikh man.
ECONOMY
From tariffs wrecking small businesses to rising inflation, Donald Trump’s failed economic policies have been a complete disaster for Illinois families. November’s jobs report reveals the economy lost a whopping 105,000 jobs in October—the worst month for job losses since December 2020. The unemployment rate is now the highest since September 2021 and has risen for four consecutive readings for the first time since June 2009. Illinois Republicans are either silent or pretend that Trump 2.0 is the “Golden Age of America.”
PUBLIC SAFETY
By voting for the Big, Ugly Budget and supporting DOGE cuts earlier this year, Illinois Republicans Mary Miller, Mike Bost, and Darin LaHood have aided Donald Trump in defunding the work being done by Chicago organizations to reduce crime and save lives. Illinois Republicans either cheer or remain silent as Trump threatens war on an American city (while wasting taxpayers’ dollars on National Guard deployments). If the ILGOP truly cared about the safety of families in Chicago’s neighborhoods, they wouldn’t have worked eagerly to dismantle anti-violence efforts.
In September, a local extremist group led by a member of the ILGOP State Central Committee, the Three Headed Eagle Alliance, celebrated political violence by hosting proud Jan. 6er and Oath Keepers founder, Stewart Rhodes.
LACK OF ORGANIZATION AND SEEMINGLY ACTING IN BAD FAITH
By the end of petition filing, and aside from submitting for governor, Illinois Republicans only managed to file a handful of petitions for statewide offices. With no filings for Illinois State Treasurer, the ILGOP marked the first time in nearly a century that a major party lacked a statewide candidate for a primary. They can’t recruit candidates, they can’t organize, and they can’t raise money.
In hypocritical maneuvers that undermine public trust in our elections, Knox County Republicans seemingly acted in bad faith last month to get on voters’ ballots for the 2026 General Primary Election. Voters in Knox County filed objectors petitions against five different Republican candidates seeking County Office for the March 2026 General Primary Election.
RURAL COMMUNITIES
Illinois is the largest soybean producer in the country and soybeans are the state’s largest agricultural export, with many of these farmers living in Mike Bost, Darin LaHood and Mary Miller’s regions. This year, Illinois soybean farmers have lost $100 to $200 per acre because Trump’s tariffs have kept the market’s biggest buyer–China–from buying soybeans.
Due to federal cuts to clean energy programs in blue states, downstate manufacturers Caterpillar and Komatsu are losing millions of dollars in business–including in LaHood’s district.
BETRAYAL OF WORKING FAMILIES
In April, in spite of his plunging approval ratings and destructive economic policies, Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi defended Donald Trump wholeheartedly in an interview. Salvi’s inability to admit Trump’s destabilizing trade war, mass firings, and deportation agenda are harming Illinois residents and businesses was a reminder of what Illinois Democrats have known for a long time—the ILGOP is more concerned with their loyalty to Trump than they are with addressing the real issues facing working families.
In an interview earlier this month, former ILGOP Chair Don Tracy tried to position himself and his Party as one of integrity while simultaneously supporting Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, the people who have objectively made day to day living more violent, more expensive, and more divisive for Illinoisans.
Several Illinois Republicans threw their hats in the GOP primary for governor—so-called “economic conservatives” with bigoted views and cult-like loyalty to Donald Trump.
