THE REFORM THEY STOPPED: HOW ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS LOST THEIR VOTE AND THE FIGHT TO GET IT BACK

PART FOUR: They want your money, your time, your loyalty and your vote on Election Day. But when it comes to choosing who runs the Illinois Republican Party, your voice is left outside the room. A 2024 effort to change that never reached a final vote. Now, after another devastating election, a former party official is accusing one of today's loudest reform advocates of helping block the very change he is demanding.

By Staff Writer | November 12, 2026

You donate your money. You put a Republican sign in your front yard. You spend Saturday afternoons knocking on doors, making telephone calls and encouraging your neighbors to vote.

You attend the fundraisers, buy the dinner tickets and listen to another speech about taking Illinois back.

Election Day arrives. You vote. Your candidates lose.

Then comes the familiar explanation.

Not enough money. Not enough volunteers. The Democrats outspent us. The message didn't get through. We need better candidates. We need new leadership.

So the party changes its chairman, promises to rebuild and asks you to open your wallet again.

But there is something the Illinois Republican Party rarely mentions when asking for your support.

You don't get a direct vote in choosing the people who run it.

The party wants your vote when it comes to electing its candidates. It wants your money to finance their campaigns. It wants your time to help them win.

But when it comes to selecting the representatives who govern the Illinois Republican Party itself, the decision belongs to a relatively small group of party officials.

And that arrangement has survived decades of election defeats, internal power struggles and promises to do things differently.

Now, an investigation into the party's governing structure reveals something even more remarkable.

Republicans had an opportunity to change that arrangement in 2024.

There was a written proposal. There was an existing Illinois law authorizing the change. There was a state convention where delegates could have decided the issue.

But the proposal never reached the convention floor for the vote its supporters wanted.

Two years later, after another devastating election, some of the same political figures who occupied positions within the party establishment are demanding the very reform that failed in 2024.

And one former Illinois Republican Party official is accusing Aaron Del Mar, the defeated 2026 lieutenant governor nominee, of helping prevent it.

This is no longer simply another story about Republicans losing elections.

It is about how Republican voters lost their direct voice in choosing the people who control their own party, and what happened when some of them tried to get it back.

The story begins in 1985, when Illinois was a very different political state.

Ronald Reagan had just won reelection in a landslide. Illinois had voted Republican for president, and the GOP remained a powerful force in state politics.

For decades, Republican primary voters had directly elected their representatives to the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.

That committee is no minor political club. It is the governing body responsible for selecting the state party chairman, overseeing the organization and helping determine its direction.

If Republican voters were unhappy with their representative, they could replace that person in a primary election.

Simple enough.

Then Illinois lawmakers changed the rules.

Legislation approved in 1985 created an alternative method for selecting State Central Committee members.

Instead of Republican primary voters directly choosing their representatives, the party could use a system in which locally elected party officials selected them.

Illinois Republicans adopted that alternative.

Illinois Democrats kept direct elections.

Think about what that meant.

Democratic voters retained a direct say in choosing their state party representatives.

Republican voters lost that direct choice.

The authority moved from the broader Republican electorate to a comparatively small number of party officials.

And once those officials selected the State Central Committee, the committee selected the party chairman.

The people asking Republicans to help win elections were now part of a governing structure that ordinary Republican voters could not directly change at the ballot box.

It was a significant transfer of political authority.

The change was controversial even when lawmakers considered it in 1985. The Illinois House debate that June included concerns about moving away from direct voter participation in party governance.

But the legislation contained something that makes the present controversy especially revealing.

The lawmakers left a way to give Republican voters their direct vote back.

Illinois Election Code 10 ILCS 5/7-8(a) provides that a political party may restore direct elections of State Central Committee members through a majority vote of delegates at a state convention.

“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.”

Illinois Election Code, 10 ILCS 5/7-8(a)

There it is.

The mechanism has existed for decades.

Republicans do not need the Democratic-controlled legislature to pass a new law giving them this option. They do not need the governor's permission.

They need their own party to act.

And that is where the story becomes particularly interesting.

For years, Republican leaders have told voters that Illinois can change if enough people get involved.

Volunteer. Donate. Organize. Speak up. Make your voice heard.

But when Republicans began demanding a direct voice in choosing their own party leadership, they encountered resistance inside the organization they were trying to help.

One of the people who has spent years fighting that resistance is Doug Elston Ibendahl.

Ibendahl is an Illinois attorney, former general counsel to the Illinois Republican Party and longtime Republican political activist and commentator.

He is familiar with the party's internal operations, its governing structure and the political personalities who have shaped it.

His professional background gives him a perspective that goes well beyond that of an occasional political critic. WTTW, Chicago's public television station, identified him as a former Illinois GOP general counsel during its coverage of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

And unlike politicians who discovered the need for reform after the latest election defeat, Ibendahl has been making the same argument for years.

In December 2022, following another disappointing Republican election, he published an article with a title that was hardly subtle.

"Do This Illinois GOP, Or Just Shut It Down."

Ibendahl argued that the party had become an organization where political insiders enjoyed authority without being directly accountable to the Republican voters whose support they depended upon.

He traced the problem to the 1985 change and urged Republicans to restore direct elections.

His message was remarkably straightforward.

“Very simply, let's give the Illinois Republican Party back to Republicans.”

Doug Elston Ibendahl, December 8, 2022

Consider the significance of that statement.

Ibendahl was not asking the party to hire another consultant, change its advertising slogan or hold another expensive fundraising dinner.

He wanted Republican voters to have a direct vote in choosing their state party representatives.

That would mean people seeking positions on the State Central Committee would have to campaign before Republican voters.

They would have to explain what they intended to accomplish.

They would have to defend their records.

And if they failed to deliver, Republican primary voters could replace them.

Imagine how different that would be from the present arrangement.

A Republican volunteer frustrated by repeated election defeats could do more than complain on Facebook or hope that a handful of party officials selected someone better.

That voter could help elect a different representative to the governing committee.

A donor dissatisfied with how the party was being managed could support a challenger.

A Republican who believed the organization needed new leadership could participate directly in choosing the people responsible for selecting that leadership.

That is the accountability Ibendahl wanted restored.

“Restoring accountability through a real vote will energize this party immediately.”

Doug Elston Ibendahl, December 8, 2022

And in 2024, he decided to do more than write about it.

He prepared a formal resolution for the Illinois Republican State Convention scheduled for May 24 and 25 in Collinsville.

The proposal called for restoring direct primary elections of State Central Committee members.

Under the direct-election structure contemplated by Illinois law, Republican voters would elect both a man and a woman from each congressional district.

The change would replace the existing system in which one State Central Committee member is selected through party officials and appoints a deputy.

For Republicans who had spent years complaining that their party was controlled by insiders, the proposal offered something tangible.

An actual vote.

Not another promise to listen.

Not another survey asking supporters what they thought.

Not another chairman announcing that the party needed to reconnect with ordinary voters.

A direct election in which Republican voters could choose their own representatives.

The 2024 state convention appeared to provide the opportunity.

Delegates were gathering in Collinsville. Party leaders were preparing resolutions. Republicans from across Illinois were coming together to discuss the organization's future.

The reform proposal was ready.

The state law permitted it.

The delegates would be assembled.

But there was a problem.

Before the proposal could reach those delegates through the normal process, it had to get through the party's Platform and Resolutions Committee.

And the people who appointed that committee were the very State Central Committee members whose method of selection the proposal sought to change.

Under the official 2024 convention rules, each of the seventeen State Central Committee members could appoint a representative to the Platform and Resolutions Committee.

A proposed resolution needed seven affirmative committee votes to advance through the regular process.

Think about the arrangement.

Republicans wanted to give ordinary voters a direct say in choosing party leadership.

But first, their proposal had to pass through a committee appointed by the existing leadership.

The people selected under the current system had influence over whether delegates would even get to consider changing that system.

That is where the fight over party reform became more than a disagreement about organizational rules.

It became a struggle over who controlled the process.

Ibendahl had warned about the obstacles before the convention.

Then the Republicans gathered in Collinsville.

The convention was hardly uneventful.

Grassroots Republicans challenged party leadership over the selection of the Republican national committeeman. The contest became contentious, and Dean White ultimately secured the position.

Illinois Review documented the procedural confrontations and the growing tensions between grassroots activists and party officials.

Republicans were clearly willing to challenge their leadership.

But when it came to restoring direct elections of the State Central Committee, the outcome was different.

The proposal did not receive the final convention floor vote its supporters sought.

On May 27, 2024, Dave Diersen, longtime Republican commentator and editor of GOPUSA Illinois, published an account of what happened at the Collinsville convention.

Diersen was a supporter of restoring direct elections. He reported that then-Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy had opposed the proposed reform and that the party's Platform and Resolutions Committee had prevented it from advancing to the convention floor.

Diersen also reported that he had initially been appointed to that committee but was removed before its first meeting.

That detail deserves attention.

A Republican who supported giving ordinary voters a direct voice in choosing their party leadership said he was removed from the committee responsible for considering that very proposal.

And the outcome was unmistakable.

The convention ended. The delegates went home. The existing system remained.

Republicans had gathered to help determine their party's future, but the proposal to restore their direct vote in choosing State Central Committee members never reached the convention floor for a final decision.

Just weeks later, another internal conflict shook the organization.

Don Tracy resigned as Illinois Republican Party chairman following a series of disputes, including the removal of Vice Chairman Mark Shaw.

Tracy complained that Republicans were spending too much time fighting each other rather than defeating Democrats.

Kathy Salvi replaced him in July 2024.

Then came another leadership change.

In May 2026, Bob Grogan became chairman.

New chairman. New promises. Another effort to rebuild.

The State Central Committee itself had also experienced significant turnover following its April 2026 elections.

Yet the underlying system for choosing its members remained intact.

And on November 3, 2026, Illinois Republicans suffered another devastating defeat.

Darren Bailey lost his second gubernatorial race against JB Pritzker. Republicans failed to win a statewide office and suffered additional legislative setbacks.

The people who had volunteered, donated and worked to elect Republicans were once again left watching their candidates lose.

And once again, the party began debating what needed to change.

This time, however, a familiar political figure stepped forward with a proposal that sounded remarkably similar to the one Republicans had failed to adopt in 2024.

Aaron Del Mar.

Del Mar, Bailey's running mate and a longtime Republican Party official, held a November 9 press conference calling for a special state Republican convention in March 2027.

He wanted changes to the party's bylaws, leadership structure, candidate recruitment and financial oversight.

He also advocated restoring direct elections of State Central Committee members.

Concerned Parents of Illinois founder Kristina McCloy joined the effort.

Del Mar argued that replacing another chairman without changing the underlying structure would accomplish little.

Following another election defeat, his message had obvious appeal.

But there was someone who had heard it before.

Doug Ibendahl.

And he was not celebrating.

On November 10, Ibendahl published a sharply critical Facebook statement accusing Del Mar of embracing a reform he had previously opposed.

Ibendahl said he and other Republicans had been demanding a special convention and restoration of direct elections for years.

He accused Del Mar of standing in their way.

“Del Mar has always been one of the main roadblocks.”

Doug Elston Ibendahl, November 10, 2026

Ibendahl went further.

He alleged that Del Mar had helped prevent the direct-election reform from receiving a fair vote at the 2024 Collinsville convention.

He accused Del Mar of attempting to claim a reform movement that others had spent years advancing.

And he questioned whether someone he viewed as part of the problem should now be trusted to lead the effort to fix it.

Those are serious accusations.

Del Mar was not an outsider to the Illinois Republican Party in 2024.

He had served as Cook County Republican chairman, State Central Committee member and state party co-chairman.

He was familiar with the organization and its governing structure.

Now, after losing alongside Bailey in 2026, he was publicly advocating a reform that Ibendahl says he previously helped obstruct.

The 2024 convention rules document the procedural barriers facing reformers. Contemporary reporting establishes that the direct-election proposal failed to advance.

Ibendahl's accusation places Del Mar among those responsible for that outcome.

That disagreement deserves attention because it raises a larger issue than the political credibility of one candidate.

Republicans are being asked to trust another promise of reform from people who have held positions within the organization they now say must change.

And ordinary Republican voters have every reason to examine the history behind those promises.

The story is not simply about whether Del Mar has changed his position.

It is about a governing system that has survived repeated defeats, repeated leadership changes and repeated demands for accountability.

Consider how that system works today.

Republican voters participate in primary elections to choose candidates for public office.

They elect local party officials.

Those local officials participate in selecting representatives to the State Central Committee.

The committee then chooses the state chairman and oversees the party's organization.

That means Republican voters have an indirect influence over the governing structure, but they do not directly elect their State Central Committee representatives.

And those representatives exercise significant authority over the organization that asks ordinary Republicans to support its candidates.

For a party that regularly campaigns on accountability, individual responsibility and the importance of voters having a voice, that arrangement creates a striking contradiction.

Republicans tell voters that government should answer to the people.

Yet within their own party, the people cannot directly elect the representatives who govern the state organization.

They are asked to trust the process.

They are asked to trust the leadership.

And after another disappointing election, they are asked to trust the next group of leaders who promise things will be different.

The April 2026 committee elections demonstrated that replacing individual members does not necessarily change the governing structure.

Most of the committee's membership changed.

The chairman changed.

But the process for selecting the committee remained.

And the election losses continued.

This is why the fight over direct elections matters far beyond the personalities involved.

It would change the relationship between Republican voters and their party leadership.

A State Central Committee candidate would have to seek support from Republican primary voters across a congressional district.

The voters would know who was running.

They could compare candidates, examine their records and decide who deserved the position.

And four years later, they could decide whether that representative had earned another term.

That would create a direct line of accountability between the people supporting the party and the people governing it.

It would also make State Central Committee elections a much more visible part of Republican politics.

Instead of leadership contests taking place largely among party officials, candidates would have to engage the Republican electorate.

For a party struggling to energize its supporters, that could represent a significant cultural change.

And it would begin with something remarkably simple.

Letting Republican voters vote.

The proposed March 2027 convention now offers the possibility of reopening that debate.

Del Mar and McCloy have called for structural reform.

Ibendahl and other longtime advocates have already prepared the legal and procedural groundwork.

The Illinois Election Code provides the authority.

The 2024 convention provides a warning about what can happen when a proposal must pass through committees controlled by the existing governing structure.

And the latest election provides another reminder of what is at stake.

The people who continue donating, volunteering and supporting Republican candidates are watching an organization struggle to produce victories.

They have seen chairmen come and go.

They have heard promises of better fundraising, stronger messaging and improved organization.

They have watched political insiders argue over control while Republican candidates continue losing ground.

Now they are being presented with a different kind of reform.

One that would give them a direct voice in selecting the people responsible for running the party.

The question facing Illinois Republicans is no longer whether the law allows that change.

It does.

The question is whether the party's leadership will permit the proposal to reach delegates for a meaningful vote.

For Bob Grogan and the State Central Committee, the decision could shape the organization's future.

For Del Mar, it presents an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to the reform he now advocates.

For Ibendahl, it represents another chapter in a fight he has pursued for years.

But for ordinary Republican voters, it is something much more personal.

It is about whether their role in the Illinois Republican Party should extend beyond writing checks, working campaigns and voting for candidates selected through a political organization they do not directly govern.

It is about whether the party belongs primarily to its officials or to the Republicans whose support makes it possible.

And it is about whether the people who keep being asked to help rebuild the organization should finally have a direct say in choosing its leadership.

In 1985, Illinois Republicans changed the rules.

In 2022, Doug Ibendahl publicly demanded that they be changed back.

In 2024, a written proposal to restore direct elections failed to reach the convention floor for the vote its supporters sought.

In 2026, after another devastating election, the demand returned.

Forty-one years after the original change, Republicans are still fighting over who gets to choose the people running their party.

Meanwhile, the ordinary Republican voter keeps doing what the party asks.

Donating. Volunteering. Campaigning. Voting.

And losing.

The Illinois Republican Party has spent decades telling its supporters that their voices matter.

Now those supporters have an opportunity to demand that the party prove it.

Because the next time party leaders ask Republicans to open their wallets, volunteer their weekends and help elect another slate of candidates, there is something those voters should remember.

They are not merely customers of a political organization.

They are the people who make that organization possible.

And they deserve a direct voice in deciding who runs it.

The Illinois Republican Party keeps asking its voters to help change Illinois. Perhaps it is time the party allowed those voters to change the Illinois Republican Party.

OFFICIAL SOURCES

• Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Election Code, 10 ILCS 5/7-8(a). https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/001000050K7-8.htm

• Illinois House of Representatives. Legislative debate, June 20, 1985. https://www.ilga.gov/documents/house/transcripts/htrans84/HT062085.pdf

• Illinois Republican Party. Official 2024 State Convention Rules. https://illinois.gop/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-State-Convention-Rules-4.0-Signed-1.pdf

• Illinois Republican Party. Adopted 2024 Convention Resolutions. https://illinois.gop/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ILGOP-Resolutions-2024.pdf

• Doug Elston Ibendahl. Proposed Resolution of the 2024 Illinois Republican State Convention. https://ibendahlonpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/resolution-of-the-2024-illinois-republican-state-convention.pdf

ADDITIONAL REPORTING AND DOCUMENTATION

• Doug Elston Ibendahl. "Do This Illinois GOP, Or Just Shut It Down." December 8, 2022.

• Doug Elston Ibendahl. "Next Month the Illinois GOP Will Decide If It Wants to Be Relevant Again." April 11, 2024. https://dougelstonibendahl.substack.com/p/next-month-the-illinois-gop-will

• The Telegraph. Scott Cousins. "Collinsville Hosts Illinois GOP State Convention This Weekend." May 23, 2024. https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/illinois-republican-convention-gop-collinsville-19474408.php

• Illinois Review. "Grassroots Dominate IL GOP State Convention and Expand Influence as State Party Leaders Lose Their Cool." May 25, 2024. https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2024/05/grassroots-dominate-il-gop-state-convention-and-expand-influence-as-state-party-leaders-lose-their-cool.html

• GOPUSA Illinois. Dave Diersen. Convention reporting, May 27, 2024. https://gopillinois.com/uncategorized/may-27-2024/

• WTTW Chicago Tonight. July 2016 Republican National Convention coverage identifying Doug Ibendahl as former Illinois Republican Party general counsel.

• Doug Elston Ibendahl. Public Facebook statement concerning Aaron Del Mar and the Illinois GOP reform movement. November 10, 2026.

• Capitol News Illinois. Reporting on Don Tracy's resignation, Illinois GOP leadership transitions and the November 2026 election.

• WAND. November 9, 2026. Coverage of Aaron Del Mar and Kristina McCloy's call for a special Republican convention.