Chicago City Wire

Attorney Doug Ibendahl is throwing his support behind a movement to remove Don Tracy as the head of Illinois’ Republican Party. 

A coalition of 30 organizations representing over 80,000 conservative grassroots activists in Illinois penned the open letter calling for the removal of Tracy as chairman of the state's Republican Party. 

“Well done. Don Tracy definitely needs to go. He’s as dishonest as he is incompetent. Or maybe he’s really still the Democrat that he officially was not that long ago,” Ibendahl said on Facebook. 

The letter expresses a "no confidence" motion against Tracy and highlights the significant gains made by Democrats under his leadership. “The state of the Illinois Republican Party is not good,” the letter reads. “Under chairman Don Tracy's leadership, fundraising is a struggle, party infighting has made its way into the pages of the Chicago Tribune, Politico and Crain's Chicago Business - and more importantly, the conservative grassroots base - the heart, soul and backbone of the Illinois Republican Party, feels ignored - and their volunteer efforts minimized.” 

The letter also points out election losses under Tracy.

“Under chairman Tracy's leadership, the Democratic Party of Illinois has made significant gains,” the letter said. “In November, Republicans lost every statewide office; Democrats increased their supermajority control in the Illinois legislature; Republicans lost 14 of 17 congressional races; and in the Illinois Supreme Court, Republicans lost winnable races giving the Democrats a 5-2 majority in the state's highest court.”

The state GOP has been accused of not adequately representing conservative voters. The Illinois Review released a report on Tracy before the April 4 elections. 

“Tracy and the Republican Party of Illinois are an embarrassment to every Republican in Illinois and they are guilty of political malpractice for abandoning candidates in the upcoming school board elections,” Illinois Review wrote. “It’s no wonder why Republicans always lose in Illinois – and like Tracy, some are actually Democrats pretending to be Republicans.” 

In the report, Illinois Review revealed Tracy’s Democratic background. In 2002, Tracy ran as a Democrat for the 50th State Senate District. “I thought I could be more independent as a Democrat in a county where the Democrat Party was weak,” Tracy told The State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg. Tracy has also provided campaign donations to Democrats in recent cycles. Dot Foods, owned by the Tracy family, donated to President Joe Biden. In 2020, Tracy donated personally Democratic Judge Emily Sutton in her run for Circuit Court Judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit of Illinois.

Val Ojeda, a GOP campaigner and supporter of former President Donald Trump, criticized the Illinois GOP for its lack of support for local candidates in the April 4 election. Ojeda expressed frustration with Tracy and the State Central Committeeman for their role in the party's losses and accused them of political malpractice. “So the Democrats spent one million dollars to get Dems elected into a School and library Boards in Illinois,” Ojeda said on Facebook. “The Illinois GOP spent nothing. Zero to help candidates or play defense and we are left with this!” 

Radio host Dan Proft also criticized the GOP's failure and lack of participation.