Chicago City Wire

State Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Chicago) used social media to congratulate state Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Sterling) on her election as House Republican Leader.

"Congratulations to future House Republican Leader Tony McCombie on being elected the first female minority House leader!" he said on Facebook. "I look forward to moving common sense solutions for Illinois families from Chicago and across our great state under her leadership."

McCombie, a former mayor of Savanna, was elected by a vote of 31 to 8 to serve as the House minority leader in the Illinois General Assembly, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. She is set to replace Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Burr Ridge), who announced during the week before the election that he would not seek re-election to the position, putting his support behind McCombie. 

“We’re going to have to work with members on both sides of the aisle, advocates on both sides of the aisle, to bring Illinois back,” McCombie said. “We can only do that when we’re in this position in the minority through relationship building. And that’s one of my strongest assets.” Democrats added to their supermajority in the House, leaving Republicans with just 40 seats. State Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove) was elected to serve as leader of the Senate caucus.

"Some of you may have heard ... I was elected this evening by my colleagues to be the next IL House Republican Leader!" McCombie said on Facebook. So many people to thank! We have a lot of work to do and I am certainly not afraid of hard work! Let's Go Team!"

McCombie will be the first woman to hold the position, according to a story by the Pantagraph. McCombie is not from the Chicago area, but she offered some insight on how Republicans can improve their presence in the city and suburbs.

"Well, I think, most importantly, we have to have a presence in the Chicago suburbs and in Chicago ... We had a lot of good candidates this cycle," she said. "However, we weren't able to cross the finish line. So that's gonna start with me being present in the suburbs and in Chicago, which I am now, but certainly not at this level in this position. So it'll be interesting to get around to the existing members that we have, learn more about their districts and actually see what we can do to make a difference there."