State GOP leaders pass the torch as national convention wraps up

[July 19, 2024]  By PETER HANCOCK,
HANNAH MEISEL
& JERRY NOWICKI
[e-mail]

MILWAUKEE – Illinois Republicans marked a changing of the guard Thursday morning as delegates met for breakfast ahead of the final day of the GOP national convention.

State party Chair Don Tracy officially steps down this week after nearly 3 ½ years in that post, handing over the reins to newly elected Chair Kathy Salvi.

Tracy announced his resignation in June, just a few weeks ahead of the national convention in Milwaukee, citing “intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities” that had made it difficult for him to perform the non-paying job effectively.

But his tone softened over the ensuing weeks as both the state and national party organizations focused on coalescing behind Donald Trump and bridging their divides.

In a brief final address to the Illinois delegation, Tracy thanked those gathered at the breakfast, saying, “many of you – well, most of you – have helped the party along the way.”

“I just ask that you keep helping the Illinois Republican Party grow bigger – become a bigger tent party,” he said. “And take back Illinois from the crazy, dysfunctional Democrats.”

He had nothing but well wishes for the person taking his place.

“I'm a huge fan of Kathy Salvi,” he told reporters after Thursday’s breakfast. “She has been an ally for many, many years. She joined our Finance Committee 3 ½ years ago. When we needed a candidate to run against Senator (Tammy) Duckworth to fill out the ticket, a really good candidate, Kathy Salvi, stepped into the breach.”

But, exemplifying the challenge facing the party in deep-blue Illinois, Salvi lost that Senate race to the incumbent Democrat by more than 625,000 votes, though it was a closer margin than the more than 1 million votes that separated Trump and the victorious Joe Biden in 2020.

The state party also welcomed two new national committee representatives Thursday. Demetra DeMonte, who has served since 2008, and Richard Porter, who has served since 2014, were both required to step down under new party rules that limit the terms of national committee representatives.

Taking over those jobs are Rhonda Belford, of Hardin County, who also leads the Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association, and Dean White, of Kane County, who has served on the state central committee from the 8 th Congressional District since 2022.

The delegates also heard Saturday from Bernie Moreno, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio. He will face three-term incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown in November.

Moreno, like many Republicans at the convention, expressed a supreme sense of confidence heading into the general election, due to both his belief in Trump and the perceived weakness of Biden. The incumbent, at age 81, has come under pressure from within his own party to step aside following his poor debate performance against Trump in June.

“Think about this for a second,” Moreno said. “120 days to this election, we don't even know who President Trump and (running mate) J.D. Vance are going to run against. We don't have no idea. It could be your governor.”

That reference to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a strong Biden supporter who is often mentioned as one of many possible replacement candidates should Biden step aside, drew boos from the crowd.

Back in Illinois, Pritzker was asked on Thursday about the latest pressure on Biden to remove himself from the race.

“I am supporting the nominee of the Democratic Party. That, right now, is our president, Joe Biden,” Pritzker said at an unrelated bill signing event in Decatur, noting he has recently campaigned on behalf of the president.

Illinois’ outgoing Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter speaks to the state’s delegation to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday. He’s joined by (left to right) Dean White and Rhonda Belford who will be the state’s new national committee representatives. To Porter’s left is outgoing GOP Chair Don Tracy. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

“He's apparently going to be our nominee, he's chosen to be our nominee,” Pritzker added. “And so, we've got to win, because the alternative is unacceptable for the country and for the future of our nation, you know, forever, really, could be altered as a result of the election of his opponent, Donald Trump.”

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, one of just three Republicans in Illinois’ congressional delegation, also tried to plant seeds of doubt about the Democratic ticket while portraying Trump as invincible following the failed assassination attempt against him last weekend.

“Make no mistake about it: Democrats are in a freefall right now in terms of where they're at in the party,” LaHood said.

Regarding the shooting that left Trump’s right ear bloodied, he added: “A hundred years from now, that picture of President Trump saying ‘fight, fight, fight’ with blood dripping down his ear will be in our history books.”

All three members of the GOP’s congressional delegation have now called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

LaHood, who serves on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, said it was “unacceptable” that the Secret Service failed to secure the rooftop from which the shooter took aim at Trump.

“It's an embarrassment for the United States,” he told reporters after the breakfast.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, of Oakland, called for Cheatle to resign in a statement Wednesday, where she also perpetuated the falsehood that President Biden diverted Secret Service resources away from Trump – a claim a Secret Service spokesperson has unequivocally denied.

And on Thursday, Rep. Mike Bost, of Murphysboro, told reporters Cheatle “needs to go” and praised the House Oversight Committee’s quick action on subpoenaing Cheatle to appear at a hearing next week.

“It's not just about what happened with Donald Trump, though we need to know that – what happened at that rally?” Bost said. “We also need to know in future that never happens again. I don't care if it's Democrat, Republican or independent – once you receive your detail from the Secret Service, they do their job.”

LaHood, however, also credited the assassination attempt for invigorating Republicans in Milwaukee.

“You never know how almost being assassinated will affect you, but I think it’s had a very positive effect on our party and brought us together,” he said.

But even as he praised the energy at the convention, moments earlier, ILGOP Executive Director Matthew Janes urged Illinois delegates not to leave their seats empty during the official RNC evening programming. Unfilled seats have been a mainstay in Illinois’ section throughout the convention – a drastic contrast of the raucous, matching cowboy hat-clad Texas delegation seated directly in front of them.

Jerry Nowicki contributed from Springfield.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.