THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...RNC delegates arrive in Milwaukee following attempted Trump assassination...Salvi elected Illinois GOP Chair
July 15, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
As you’re reading this, I’m headed up to Milwaukee for the Illinois GOP delegation breakfast ahead of the first day of the Republican National Convention.
New Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi is not expected in Milwaukee this morning, but we are working on trying to get some sort of facetime with her this week.
I don’t really have a lot of comment for you on the attempted assassination of former President Trump Saturday. I have lots of thoughts, a lot of sadness, and a lot of anger, but this is a state-focused newsletter. All I’ll say is this: whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, your opponent is not your enemy. They’re your competition. Joe Biden didn’t order a murder and it isn’t a Trump campaign false flag. So, everyone cool your jets.
Ok?
Ok.
That said, it’s expensive to get in and out of these events and we’re not rolling in corporate sponsor dough here, so I’d be honored if you joined us as a paid subscriber. Subscribers get three-subscriber only newsletters each week and breaking news alerts before anyone else (we had Kathy Salvi’s election out to subscribers before anyone else Friday.)
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There is nothing on Gov. Pritzker's public schedule today. Here’s the Indianapolis Star writeup on his speech to the Indiana Democratic Party Friday night.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Illinois GOP leaders at RNC say Trump shooting will unite the party for November (Chicago Tribune)
The day after former President Donald Trump was targeted in an attempted assassination, Illinois Republicans converging on Milwaukee ahead of this week’s Republican National Convention said the alarming event will only serve to unite the GOP going into the November election.
The most serious assassination attempt on a president or presidential candidate in decades also caused some members of the Illinois delegation to recognize the polarized state of American politics. While many of the GOP delegates solely blamed Democrats, others called for a stop to the toxic war of words from members of both political parties and said the bombast needs to be toned down if there’s ever going to be any prospect for the country to see any cohesion.
“We have to, as elected officials, be very careful of the rhetoric that we’re using. Words have meaning,” state Sen. Terri Bryant, a Republican from Murphysboro and an at-large delegate, said of Republicans and Democrats. “And so, in this, I think that you may find some folks taking a step back to try to find a better way to get their message out without being incendiary.”
Dozens of Illinois Republicans crossed the Illinois-Wisconsin state line in recent days for the RNC in Milwaukee, joining members of the GOP from across the nation as they are expected to nominate Trump on Thursday. As Republicans prepared for the first in-person political convention in eight years, Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday was marred by a gunman who shot at Trump, apparently grazing his ear. One spectator was killed and two others critically wounded. The gunman was killed after the shooting.
The Illinois GOP arrives in Milwaukee with a new state party chairman, Kathy Salvi of Mundelein, who was selected on Friday.
In taking the reins, Salvi had signified the need for a fresh start for a political party that has been mostly irrelevant in Illinois state politics in recent years. The Illinois Republican Party has struggled to appeal to suburban moderates who’ve shown a reluctance or outright refusal to support Trump and also been turned off by the state GOP’s more hardline stances that have been more attractive to conservative voters in mostly rural swaths of Illinois.
While the progress of uniting Republican voters in Illinois remains to be seen, delegate Aaron Del Mar, who dropped out of the running for Illinois GOP chairman before Friday’s vote, said Sunday that the shooting at the Trump rally has only intensified the unity among the party on a national level.
“I think that we were ahead to begin with. I think this even moves us further ahead,” said Del Mar, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2022. “Everyone … criticizes President Trump for all of his rhetoric. About immigration, about crime, about these issues. But nobody ever calls the Democrats on their rhetoric. Nobody ever says, ‘Hey, maybe that’s not such a hot idea to be so incendiary … regarding Donald Trump.'”
Related: Illinois Republicans ready to 'rock this' RNC as Trump assassination attempt unites GOP (Chicago Sun-Times)
‘This is unacceptable’: Suburban RNC delegates react to shooting at Trump rally (Daily Herald)
Amid leadership shuffle, Illinois GOP heads to Milwaukee with unified focus on Trump (Bloomington Pantagraph)
National Committeeman Richard Porter looks ahead to GOP convention as party names new state chair (Capitol News Illinois)
Salvi Elected Illinois Republican Party Chair (The Illinoize)
Kathy Salvi, a suburban conservative who was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022, was elected chair of the Illinois Republican Party Friday.
Salvi, of Mundelein, was elected at a special meeting Friday afternoon of the GOP State Central Committee. She replaces Don Tracy, who announced his resignation from the post last month effective at the end of next week’s Republican National Convention.
She was the GOP nominee for United States Senate in 2022, losing to Sen. Tammy Duckworth 57%-42%. She finished second in a GOP congressional primary in 2006.
Salvi was chosen over Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) and State Central Committeeman Aaron Del Mar. Though, sources say Del Mar withdrew from consideration shortly before the vote.
Sources say Salvi received around 56% of the weighted vote over Cabello to secure the position.
In a statement after the vote, Salvi vowed to get the Illinois GOP, and state government “back on track.”
"It is an honor to be recognized by my fellow Illinois Republicans as the next Chair of the Illinois Republican Party,” she said. “As we prepare to nominate the next President of the United States, Illinois stands as a testament to what Democrat governance can do: out of control cost of living, rampant crime, and rife with corruption. Illinois Republicans will stand and fight for our conservative ideals and set this state, and nation, back on the right track.”
Salvi, who officially becomes chair next Friday, inherits a party divided among social and geographical lines, facing uphill battles in gerrymandered legislative and congressional races, and a nominee for President that has lost Illinois by a million votes twice.
Her selection angered a far-right wing of the party, including former Attorney General candidate Tom DeVore, who called on all 17 members of the Illinois GOP state central committee to resign.
“Since the cluster [of] a convention (there was a controversy over fake delegates in the May state GOP convention), this whole thing has been such a debacle that it’s an embarrassment,” DeVore wrote on Facebook. “They should all be disqualified. All of them are an embarrassment!! We need a special election now so we don’t have to wait for two years to pick a new committee!”
No process exists to elect a new state central committee before 2026.
Democrats jumped on Salvi’s selection, calling her a “far-right extremist.”
“The ILGOP is littered with anti-abortion extremists, but it is now chaired by someone who once opposed abortions for victims of rape, saying, ‘abortion only adds insult to injury.’ The election of Kathy Salvi is not just a threat to the ILGOP’s ill-fated ticket, but to women all across our state,” the Democratic Party of Illinois wrote in an unsigned statement. “Kathy Salvi's extreme stances on healthcare, immigration, and women's rights are fundamentally at odds with the values of Illinois working families. Salvi will fit right in with the modern-day ILGOP as she is no stranger to losing elections. We defeated Kathy Salvi and MAGA extremism across Illinois in 2022, and we are more determined than ever to combat the ILGOP’s far-right agenda at the ballot box this November.”
Related: Time for a reset? Illinois Republicans enter GOP convention with a new leader — and old divisions (Chicago Sun-Times)
New chairman tries to unite fractured Illinois GOP heading into Milwaukee convention (Chicago Tribune)
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