ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS KEEP LOSING. WHY DO THEIR LEADERS KEEP THEIR JOBS?

November 04, 2026•9 min read

ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS KEEP LOSING. THEIR LEADERS KEEP GETTING ANOTHER CHANCE.

Voters can choose the nominee. They deserve a stronger voice in choosing the people who control the party afterward.

By FactsFirstus Editor | November 4, 2026
Opinion

“Bloodbath.” “Blue tsunami.”

The morning-after coverage was brutal. The Washington Examiner described an “electoral ‘bloodbath.’” Ireland’s national public broadcaster, RTÉ, called the Democratic victories a “blue tsunami.” Reuters reported that Democrats gained far more than most analysts had forecast.

Democrats were expected to have a good night. Republicans were not expecting a night quite like this.

In Illinois, though, another Republican defeat hardly required a breaking-news alert.

You have seen this before. You contribute, volunteer, defend the candidate, and hope the party finally gains some ground. Then the results arrive, followed by an explanation of why winning was so difficult.

Apparently, rebuilding the Illinois Republican Party is a project without a completion date.

The national wave helps explain Tuesday. It does not explain the condition of the Illinois Republican Party before Tuesday.

That distinction matters because Republican voters are about to be asked for something familiar: more patience, more money, and another chance for the people directing the operation.

Before agreeing, they deserve to know why those people should remain in charge.

Start with state chairman Bob Grogan and the questions surrounding his relationship with Ted Dabrowski, the gubernatorial candidate Republican voters rejected in favor of Darren Bailey.

September reporting identified Grogan as treasurer of Dabrowski’s campaign fund while serving as Illinois Republican chairman.

Supporting a candidate in a primary is ordinary politics. Continuing an organizational relationship with the defeated candidate while running the party responsible for electing the winner demands a clear explanation.

Republican voters should have received that explanation before they were left wondering whose political future their chairman was helping build.

Instead, discussion of 2030 was already intruding into the campaign they were trying to win in 2026.

FactsFirstus.com reported allegations from Thomas DeVore and sources describing internal Republican discussions that some insiders preferred to preserve an opening for Dabrowski, or another favored candidate, rather than fully support Bailey. Illinois Review separately reported allegations that some Dabrowski donors were being encouraged to hold back support while looking toward a possible future campaign.

A coordinated plan to sacrifice the election has not been proven. The documented relationships and public dispute are sufficient grounds for demanding answers.

The Chicago Tribune reported DeVore’s accusation that Grogan wanted to help Dabrowski become the 2030 nominee rather than help Bailey. Aaron Del Mar’s response exposed the distrust inside the ticket.

“I have my concerns certainly.”
Aaron Del Mar, responding to the allegation concerning Grogan, as reported by the Chicago Tribune

That was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor discussing the chairman of his own party.

Put yourself in the position of a volunteer making campaign calls after dinner. You are trying to persuade strangers to believe in the ticket while the ticket itself has concerns about the commitment of the person running its party.

Leadership should have resolved that breakdown publicly and decisively.

Grogan publicly supported Bailey and condemned former Republican House leader Jim Durkin’s endorsement of Pritzker. Those statements establish a commitment against which Grogan’s work should be judged.

An endorsement is the beginning of that accounting. Supporters deserve to know what the organization did afterward.

Durkin’s decision requires a different judgment.

He endorsed the Democratic governor over the Republican nominee. He was entitled to do that. Republican voters are entitled to decide that someone helping preserve Democratic control should have no influence over choosing the future leadership of their party.

Voters chose Bailey. Durkin chose Pritzker.

Supporters do not owe him deference because he once held a Republican leadership title.

Current legislative leaders Tony McCombie and John Curran also owe their supporters an accounting of the campaign operations they direct. Both were selected after the disappointing 2022 election. Both discussed opportunities to gain ground this year.

Their review should identify what their organizations accomplished, which decisions fell short, and what changes the results require. Recruitment, fundraising, coordination, and candidate assistance are responsibilities that can be examined.

“Difficult year” should be the beginning of that explanation, never the entirety of it.

The same applies to any attempt to dismiss Bailey as a weak nominee.

Republican voters chose him with approximately 53.3 percent of the gubernatorial primary vote. Some leaders preferred someone else. The primary settled that disagreement.

Voters were entitled to choose the nominee. They were entitled to expect the party’s leadership to help him compete afterward.

If officials believed Bailey needed stronger fundraising, they should show how they helped. If his campaign needed better outreach, they should explain what resources they provided.

A nominee’s weaknesses are legitimate subjects for review. They do not make the organization’s responsibilities disappear.

Before anyone presents Bailey’s defeat as vindication for the people who preferred another candidate, those people should account for their own effort.

The rejected funding request provides a concrete example.

According to reporting by FactsFirstus.com, the Chicago Tribune, and The Illinoize, Del Mar sought $150,000 from the state party for turnout work supporting the statewide ticket. The State Central Committee rejected the request, citing the absence of a detailed spending plan.

Del Mar acknowledged that shortcoming.

Demanding a budget is reasonable. Reaching that point months after a primary without an agreed plan for the proposed turnout effort exposes a basic organizational failure.

Revise the proposal. Attach conditions. Assign responsibilities. Work it out.

That is what the leadership positions are for.

Illinois Files, which compiles campaign disclosures, lists approximately $33,684 in state party support to Bailey’s committee. That assistance belongs in the record. It does not settle whether the organization delivered an adequate campaign operation.

Supporters deserve the full accounting of what was provided, what was refused, and what followed.

They helped finance the organization. Inspecting its performance should not require a fight.

Grogan has acknowledged a weakness that extends beyond one request.

“We’ve been lazy on developing infrastructure for small-dollar donors.”
Bob Grogan, quoted in reporting republished by the Chicago Republican Party

Remember that admission when someone explains everything through Pritzker’s wealth.

The governor’s money gives him an enormous advantage. Neglect of Republican infrastructure belongs on Republican leadership’s record.

Ordinary supporters have been trying to fill those gaps. They donated what they could, volunteered after work, and defended their candidates to friends and neighbors. Some reported difficulty getting even basic campaign signs through Republican organizations, leaving supporters to find their own.

The frustration goes beyond a sign. People giving their evenings and money should be able to count on an organization prepared to support their effort.

Instead, they keep being asked to give more before leadership explains what it accomplished with what they already gave.

That arrangement has become far too comfortable for the people at the top.

The leaders responsible for these failures should resign. Those who refuse should be replaced through the party’s governing process. But that process needs reform, too.

This is where Republican voters should insist on something more substantial than another change of names.

A private agreement among familiar insiders will not restore public confidence. It leaves supporters outside the room, waiting to learn who will ask them for money next.

Leadership candidates should appear publicly, explain their qualifications, disclose relevant political and financial relationships, and present measurable commitments. Committee members should disclose their votes.

The party should pursue the rule changes, and any necessary legal changes, needed to give Republican voters a direct voice in selecting its top leadership.

An organization asking citizens to trust it with government should be willing to give those citizens meaningful influence over who runs it.

Republican voters already help choose precinct committeepersons, and the party’s committee structure provides routes to participation. Supporters can learn who represents them, examine those representatives’ decisions, and support credible challengers.

But participation should lead to genuine accountability. It should never become an elaborate route back to a decision the insiders have already made.

For Illinois residents, the consequences extend beyond the future of a party.

Census-based analysis found that approximately 40,000 more people moved from Illinois to other states than moved into Illinois from other states between 2024 and 2025.

Leaving home carries costs that never appear on a moving company’s invoice: parents farther away, children starting over, customers left behind, and neighbors no longer across the fence.

Residents who believe Illinois needs different government deserve a credible opportunity to pursue it without giving up the lives they built here.

Democrats must answer for the government they control. Republican leaders must answer for the alternative they keep promising.

Springfield’s April 6, 2027, municipal election offers a nearby test.

Its races are nonpartisan, but the organizations helping candidates compete matter. FactsFirstus.com has reported campaign assistance connecting Jennifer Notariano and Teresa Tran to the Land of Lincoln Democratic Socialists of America. Its reporting identified event attendance by Roy Williams Jr., a separate relationship.

Voters should examine those connections alongside each candidate’s record and positions. Republican leaders warning about socialist influence should demonstrate effective organizing of their own.

Local service also offers an opportunity to earn trust through performance. Residents can judge whether services improve, spending is explained, and officials respond.

That is work from which a broader recovery can grow. It requires sustained effort and leaders prepared to accept judgment along the way.

The next fundraising appeal will ask Republican voters to believe again.

Before sending it, party leaders should explain what will change, who will be accountable, and how supporters will help choose the people in charge.

Illinois families have invested too much in their homes to be told that leaving is their best chance at something different. Republican voters have invested too much in their party to accept another private leadership arrangement as reform.

The people who keep asking voters for another chance should no longer be allowed to award themselves one.

Official sources:

Secondary sources and additional reporting: