Next month the Illinois GOP will decide if it wants to be relevant again

The only reason to attend the Illinois Republican State Convention next month is to restore direct elections for the Illinois Republican Party’s governing board: the state central committee.

“We will never be able to fix a rigged system by counting on the same people who rigged it in the first place.” – Donald J. Trump, June 22, 2016

I talk to a lot of Republicans around the state. And these are usually hardcore, dyed-in-the wool, lifelong Republicans. Whatever the Republican equivalent of a “Yellow Dog Democrat” is, that’s who I’m talking about here.

They all loathe Joe Biden. Obviously. That’s a given. And the vast majority love Donald Trump and want him back in the White House. Again, a given.

But go beyond the obvious and the thing I hear most often from rank-and-file Republicans in Illinois is that they are done with the Illinois Republican Party, i.e., our state party.

They’re excited about voting for Donald Trump. Many will even volunteer their time for him and/or donate money to his campaign. And most will also typically vote for all of the down-ballot Republicans running, even if they check those boxes with less enthusiasm.

But they’re done with our state GOP. They’ve simply given up on it. Don Tracy, who allegedly serves as state party chair (by my count, the 9th so far this century), would have better luck asking Republicans to donate a kidney to him than he would asking them to volunteer for him.

You can’t blame the Republican rank-and-file. There’s just too much disrespect, too much unprofessionalism, too much dishonesty, too much arrogance, too much non-transparency, too many rigged state conventions.

In sum, the Illinois Republican Party is just too out of touch with its voters. And Republican voters won’t be chumps. They’ll never volunteer for people who disrespect them. Doesn’t matter how awful the Democrats might be.

It’s not only a tragic situation — it’s an enormous, wasted opportunity. Illinois Democrats are doing a miserable job. Their policies are beyond awful for much of the state. The Democrats could be beaten in Illinois, but not with the GOP organization on the field now. No way. The Illinois Republican Party simply isn’t organized to win elections.

It’s organized so some of the most mediocre people can keep a big title and feel important. Please note I’m saying “some.” No one is saying “all” because there are definitely some decent players on the field. Just not nearly enough. This state is full of honest, hardworking, high achieving Republicans — but too many of the best have simply decided this Illinois party isn’t worth their time.

Our state GOP is in desperate need of major innovation. Its organizational culture has to be fundamentally changed and modernized — otherwise we should just stop pretending that we’re ever going to win a statewide election again in Illinois or win back even a single one of the several congressional seats the Illinois GOP has steadily lost over the years (the GOP is now down to just 3 of Illinois’ 17 seats).

But all is not lost. Our state party can be fixed. Republicans fix broken organizations all the time in the private sector. All it will take is for good people to stand up. It’s going to require many of those Republicans who understandably wrote-off our state party in years past, to get involved again.

Next month we can free the Illinois Republican Party from the failed, incompetent bosses who have rendered the GOP irrelevant in Illinois and give it back to Republican voters. We can restore accountability and respect by giving all Republicans a meaningful voice again in their own state party.

The Illinois Republican State Convention is May 24 & 25 in downstate Collinsville.

This is the state convention our state party is required by Illinois law to hold once every 4 years. If the law didn’t require it, I honestly doubt if we would see one in Illinois. Because any convention holds out the prospect for positive change, we still have a few old bosses who fear it. That’s why our state conventions have been far more highly rigged compared to states where their state party is serious about winning. I know because I’ve attended other state GOP conventions in nearby states. It’s like night and day.

But until we achieve that desperately needed innovation, we can only play the cards we’re dealt. Riggers are going to rig.

In my view the only reason to attend this state convention next month is to restore direct elections for the Illinois Republican Party’s governing board: the state central committee. That’s how we innovate. That long past due reform is a game changer.

Illinois law already allows us to do it. The authorizing language is found in 10 ILCS 5/7-8(a), which provides:

A political party may, by a majority vote of the delegates of any State convention of such party, determine to return to the election of State central committeepersons by the vote of primary electors.

The way it would work at the Convention next month is that a resolution to restore direct elections would first have to be approved by the Platform & Resolutions Committee on Friday of the Convention, May 24. Each of the 17 state central committeepersons picks one member for that committee.

If the Platform & Resolutions Committee approves it, then it goes to the floor of the Convention on Saturday when all delegates assemble for the first time. If a majority of the delegates vote to approve the resolution you get your vote back in your state party.

The one-page flyer HERE has a simple summary on restoring direct elections. I invite you to check it out and share it far and wide.

Keep in mind, all we’re talking about is restoring a vote which never should have been taken away from Republicans in the first place. When we had direct elections for our state central committee the Illinois Republican Party routinely won statewide races. Republicans held a substantial majority of the congressional seats. Illinois was a reliable Red State. But then in 1985 a handful of party bosses decided to consolidate their power by taking our vote away. There was no credible reason for taking our vote away. It was just a selfish power grab. Illinois has been getting Bluer every year since. 

But that’s what happens when you disenfranchise 99.99% of your constituents.

Republicans had forced down their throats our current cockamamie system for picking the state central committee and all it has done is torpedo Republican party building and invite Democrat infiltration (see for example the Richard Irvin historic debacle of 2022).

With the rank-and-file disenfranchised and out of the picture, our state party has become beholden to rich guys on vanity tours. And we’re running out of those in Illinois. The last 2 rich guys the state party sold its soul to, Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin, took all their marbles and moved to Florida when their vanity tours crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. Good riddance I say. Neither was ever particularly Republican in the first place, and both are Never-Trumpers.

We’re now down to the scrubs with people like Don Tracy allowed to play big shot for awhile as long as he and his family keep ponying up some of their inherited wealth to keep the state party lights on.

This is where disenfranchising Republicans has gotten us.

Illinois Democrats kept direct elections for their state central committee. Every Democrat gets a vote for their state party leadership—just like we used to have. We can sit around and whine about the Democrats in this state and their awful policies all day long—but the inconvenient truth is they do listen to their voters. It’s silly to deny it. Democrat officials are advancing the agenda their voters want every single day while they run circles around the Illinois Republican Party and a hapless Don Tracy who is no doubt being advised by his ridiculously overpaid consultants even as speak on how to keep the rank-and-file disenfranchised and powerless. (Accountability is murder on the gravy train.)

Making our state central committee accountable to ALL Republicans again, instead of to just a small handful of lower level party officials will be a huge advance. People will be amazed at what the Illinois Republican Party can accomplish once it starts respecting Republican voters again.

The Illinois GOP will guarantee still more disastrous elections for itself if the message that comes out of the Collinsville convention next month is that Republican voters shall remain second class citizens when compared to every Illinois Democrat.

You want the serfs to spend their time ballot harvesting and poll watching on elections you’re going to lose massively anyway, but you don’t think they deserve the same vote every Democrat in Illinois already enjoys? Yeah well, good luck with that.

Restoring our vote is long past due. Let’s finally get it done. Let’s be second class citizens no longer.

I’ll have more updates on this subject in the coming days and weeks. Please keep checking back. And if you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me: doug.ibendahl@mail.com.