Illinois Republican Chair Resigns, Slams Colleagues Weeks Before Convention

Stock photo showing Don Tracy, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. Tracy has announced he will resign from his position citing party infighting.

Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy is resigning from his political post, and has condemned colleagues for choosing to fight each other rather than the Democrats, in a letter explaining his decision.

Tracy said in a statement sent to party members on Wednesday, just four weeks before the GOP convention in Milwaukee, that he was spending too much of his time "dealing with intra-party power struggles."

The Republican Party suffered a burst of infighting over the past year which was largely focused on who would be its 2024 Republican presidential contender. Former president Donald Trump clashed, sometimes bitterly, with rivals Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.S. U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Following a string of primary wins, Trump is now the GOP's presumptive 2024 presidential nominee.

In his resignation letter, Tracy hit out at Illinois Republican infighting, commenting: "In better days, Illinois Republicans came together after tough intra-party elections.

"Now however, we have Republicans who would rather fight other Republicans than engage in the harder work of defeating incumbent Democrats by convincing swing voters to vote Republican."

He added: "Unfortunately, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra-party power struggles and local intra-party animosities that continued after primaries and County Chair elections."

Tracy cited conflict over recent internal elections as a factor in his resignation as voluntary chair, a role he has held since 2021. He said he wanted to be replaced no later than July 19, a day after the 2024 GOP convention in Milwaukee.

He commented: "Recent events, including the RNC Committeeman election, immediately followed by the retribution sacking of the losing candidate Vice Chair Mark Shaw, a longtime State Party leader and worker, without due process and without taking any step disciplining others for alleged or admitted Convention misconduct, portends a direction of the state party I am not comfortable with."

The Democratic Party currently dominates the politics of Illinois, providing the state's governor and having strong majorities in both chambers of its legislature.

Reacting to Tracy's announcement the local party said: "While the IL [Illinois] GOP finds itself in chaos, the Democratic Party of Illinois enters the 2024 general election as a united party standing for freedom and opportunity for all of Illinois' working families.

"As a reminder, last cycle, Illinois Democrats defeated the IL GOP's MAGA candidate for Governor, reelected Senator Tammy Duckworth, protected supermajorities in the IL General Assembly, and expanded our representation in Congress.

"In contrast, the IL GOP has been defined by a litany of electoral disasters, constant infighting, meager fundraising, and a strict adherence to a losing set of anti-choice, anti-worker, pro-Trump policies."

Mockingly the Illinois Democrats added: "While we don't expect new leadership to change any of that, we do wish the best of luck to the inevitable MAGA extremist who will succeed Don Tracy as Chair."

Newsweek contacted the Republican Party of Illinois for comment by email outside of usual business hours on Thursday by email.

Republicans have also been rocked by infighting in Texas where the GOP House Speaker narrowly fought off a challenge from a Trump-backed party rival at the end of May.

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