Illinois Republicans: Masters of Complaining, Amateurs at Voting — Led by a Leadership That Should Be Fired

Editor’s Note: A State Abandoned by Its Own Party
Illinois is not being conquered by Democrats — it is being surrendered by Republicans. Not because the left is brilliant, but because the right has embraced a culture of excuses, apathy, and leadership so ineffective it should have been fired long ago.

The Illinois GOP is suffering not from oppression, but from abdication. From voters who demand rescue but refuse participation. From leaders who cling to titles but not results.

This is not an attack piece. This is an autopsy. And the patient keeps insisting it’s still alive.

Now the story.

By: Staff Writer
December 11, 2025

Illinoisans have a favorite pastime: griping about the endless grind of Governor JB Pritzker's regime. Sky-high property taxes that make your wallet weep, crime waves turning neighborhoods into no-go zones, schools churning out kids who can't read their diplomas, crumbling bridges that look like they lost a war with rust, and economic opportunities so scarce they're basically mythical creatures. Scroll through any coffee shop rant or family dinner debate, and you'll hear the chorus: "Pritzker's policies are killing us!" It's a symphony of outrage, loud enough to echo from the Loop to the cornfields.

But here's the punchline that's funnier than a Chicago winter: these same folks keep hitting the polls—or rather, not hitting them—to hand the keys back to the same failed architects of despair. In the 2024 general election, voter turnout scraped a measly 70.42% of eligible voters, the fourth-lowest in nearly 50 years, leaving over 2 million potential voices silent. And who bears the brunt? Not the Democrats, who turned out like clockwork to pad their supermajorities. No, it's the Republicans—trapped in the minority wilderness—who should be the beacon of bold opposition, the scrappy underdogs exposing every Pritzker flop. Instead, they're fumbling the ball so spectacularly, it's like watching a team forfeit at halftime.

Republican voters in Illinois have perfected a rare political art form: demanding change while refusing participation. It’s like complaining the house is on fire but never picking up a bucket of water.

Picture this: Illinois, with its 12.5 million souls and roughly 8 million registered voters, sees just 6 million show up in presidential years and a pathetic 4 million in midterms. But zoom in on the GOP side, and the rot festers deeper. Fresh analysis from conservative firebrand and attorney Tom DeVore paints a grim portrait: come 2026, only about 1.75 million Republicans are projected to drag themselves to the polls statewide. That's while roughly 1 million right-leaning residents aren't even registered, another million are registered but treat voting like an optional hobby, and 750,000 pop in only when a national name's on the ballot. Add it up, and you've got a whopping 2.75 million ghost voters—potential game-changers—who are sitting this circus out.

“Just imagine if a fraction of those 2.75 million Republicans participated? Even a modest bump in GOP turnout would redraw the map overnight.”
— Tom DeVore, conservative attorney and GOP activist

DeVore’s not mincing words; he’s dropping truth bombs on a party that’s spent two decades sleepwalking into irrelevance. Since 2002, Republicans have tumbled out of the governor’s mansion like it’s cursed—losing in ’02, ’06, ’10, ’18, and ’22. The state House? They haven’t sniffed a majority since ’96. Every statewide office but one has been a Democratic lock since ’06.

And here’s the iceberg Republicans keep pretending they aren’t hitting: Illinois isn’t a deep-blue fortress — it’s a state where Republicans simply refuse to show up. Democrats win because Republicans choose not to participate. Politics is not a spectator sport, yet the Illinois GOP base insists on sitting in the bleachers booing while the other team walks into the end zone unopposed.

It’s not that Democrats are invincible juggernauts; they’re just hungrier. While Pritzker’s crew rakes in billions and squanders them on migrant hotels and ever-growing bureaucracies, Republicans can’t even muster a whisper of fiscal fury at the ballot box. Over 400,000 Illinoisans have fled the state since Pritzker took office in 2019, chasing lower taxes and sanity elsewhere. Yet the GOP’s response? Crickets from the base, and from leadership, a parade of excuses wrapped in empty bravado.

Enter Tony McCombie, the House Minority Leader from Savanna, and her deputy Norine Hammond—more infamous for “Pillowgate” ethics scandals than electoral wins. Two years into their tenure, the scoreboard is a bloodbath. In 2024, Republicans didn’t flip a single House seat. Zilch. They clung to their measly 40 out of 118, a superminority as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Democrats cruised, incumbents untouched, maps unmoved.

The financials are where the sarcasm turns savage. While House Speaker Chris Welch and Democrats hauled in $15.6 million during the 2024 cycle—ending Q3 with $2.1 million cash on hand—McCombie’s crew scraped together a laughable $792,000. That’s a 20-to-1 beatdown. McCombie raised nearly $1 million in one quarter, only to funnel $1.8 million to the cash-strapped House Republican Organization, which burned through it and limped into Election Day with $90,504—barely enough for a fancy Springfield steak dinner. Democrats rolled in fully armored; Republicans arrived on fumes.

“Republicans not voting allows bad Republican leaders to stay in office. It’s a vicious circle that only a group of people with real courage and talent can resolve.”
— Tom DeVore

And the leadership? They’re not just broke; they’re blind. McCombie preaches “progress,” but the numbers scream stagnation. This isn’t rocket science—it’s arithmetic. A participation chasm, not a population deficit, dooms the GOP to eternal bridesmaid status.

Here is the surgical truth no consultant will dare say aloud:
Illinois Republicans are not losing elections — they are forfeiting them.
A party cannot demand victory while rejecting discipline, turnout, strategy, or accountability.
In politics, as in life, effort is the currency of survival, and the Illinois GOP is bankrupt.

Pritzker’s reign—tax hikes totaling over $1 billion while neighbors slash theirs, endless lockdowns that gutted businesses, and social experiments chasing away families—should be red meat for Republican rage. Vice President-elect JD Vance nailed it: Pritzker “failed to do his job,” violating his oath in ways that border on criminal negligence. Paul Vallas, the no-nonsense former Chicago schools CEO and mayoral contender, echoes the fury: Illinois ranks first in tax burden, last in equity, with job growth confined to government gigs as residents bolt in record numbers.

“Pritzker seems to be competing with Mayor Johnson on who is most ignorant of history or who can say the most outrageous & divisive things. Anything to divert public attention from the fact that Illinois is the worst run state east of California.”
— Paul Vallas, former Chicago mayoral candidate and education reformer

Yet without a turnout transfusion—those 2.75 million phantoms finally showing up—the 2026 midterms will be a rerun of this farce: no flips, no fire, just more Democratic dynasty. Republicans can whine all they want about Pritzker’s palace of pain, but until they show up en masse and purge the enablers in their own ranks, it’s all hot air in a wind tunnel.

Final Warning: The Hour Is Late

History does not wait for parties that refuse to fight.
If the Illinois GOP cannot awaken the millions who have slipped into political hibernation, then 2026 won’t simply be another loss — it will be confirmation that the party no longer intends to govern at all.

The clock’s ticking, Illinois GOP.
Time to trade the complaints for combat—or watch the Land of Lincoln fade into Democratic dusk forever.

Sources:

Tom DeVore, conservative attorney and GOP activist Public Comments
Paul Vallas, former Chicago mayoral candidate and education reformer
JD Vance, U.S. Vice President-elect