Chicago City Wire

Longtime Republican figure Aaron Del Mar was elected chairman of the Cook County Republican Party with over 85% of the vote in a contested election held at Moretti's in Baker’s Hall on Tuesday, April 22.

Following the resignation of former chairman Sean Morrison, Del Mar said he personally contacted all 80 Cook County committeemen to seek their support and began reshaping party leadership immediately after the vote by removing precinct committeemen who had backed his opponent, George Ballis, a Republican committeeman from Norwood Park Township.

“I wanted them to make sure that everybody was on base. 85% percent were on base; Mr. Ballis was not, and his 15% were not,” Del Mar told Chicago City Wire. “The Cook County bylaws state that anybody who is appointed to a vacant committee can be removed by the chairman at any time. So the next morning, I removed six of them that were all appointed. And then Mr. Ballis removed himself and now we have 100%—maybe 98%—of the Cook County party all on the same page.” 

Del Mar has served as Palatine Township Highway Commissioner since 2016 and previously chaired the Cook County GOP from 2012 to 2016. He has also served as State GOP Co-Chair, a State Central Committeeman and represented Illinois in various party roles. In 2022, he ran for lieutenant governor but was defeated in the Republican primary.

“The first time I did this, I was 33 years old and probably shouldn't have been the chair,” he said. “Now I’ve run for statewide office, served as co-chair of the Illinois GOP — I know exactly what needs to be done.”

Now older and more seasoned, this time around he emphasized his readiness to lead with renewed energy. 

“We're just going to cut the bullsh**,” Del Mar said. “We're going to take a very direct, aggressive and maybe even considerably hostile approach to the way that we are going around this party.”

Del Mar’s second term begins as Illinois Republicans face ongoing challenges from a deeply Democratic Cook County and statewide political environment. 

Still, he remains confident that realignment is possible with the right strategy. 

“We're no longer going to be complacent or latent in any fashion,” he said. “We're gonna stop capitulating to the Democrats and their far-left policies.”

Del Mar outlined a detailed plan focused on recruiting credible Republican candidates, expanding fundraising infrastructure and boosting voter engagement — particularly among Republicans who only turn out for presidential cycles. 

“We need to find a way to engage them and have conversations and loop them in, even in off-cycle races,” he said. “That’s going to start by creating a permanent vote-by-mail program in Cook County.”

He also called for sharper, faster messaging to counter high-profile Democrat leaders. 

“We need to have a rapid mobile response team,” Del Mar said. “Every time Brandon Johnson, Tony Preckwinkle or J.B. Pritzker, or any of the other far left ultra progressive Democrats in Illinois make bad decisions or choose to keep pushing these policies on the people of Illinois, we can respond and communicate.” 

“Not only shining a light on what they're doing, but also making it that palatable in a way that the average Illinoisan can understand how that poor public policy is going to affect them on a daily basis.” 

Del Mar said the party’s past complacency has caused it to lose ground across local and state offices. 

“When I left in 2016, we had five county commissioners and eight legislators from Cook County,” he said. “Now, we’ve lost almost all of that.“

Cook County is the epicenter of Illinois’ political dysfunction and pivotal to the entire state, Del Mar said. 

“All of the bad policies are created in Cook County and spread to the rest of the state,” he said. “Most of the bad actors come out of Cook County. Rod Blagojevich, Mike Madigan – they all started in Cook and that's where the battle is.”  

He also cited what he sees as structural disadvantages Republicans face, from gerrymandered districts to limited opportunities for political advancement. 

Despite those headwinds, Del Mar believes the GOP can regain its footing. 

He pointed to President Donald Trump’s performance in Illinois in 2020 as proof that Republican momentum is possible even in Democratic strongholds. 

“He over performed by 700,000 more votes than in 2016 and even won two Chicago wards,” Del Mar said. “That hasn’t happened since Ronald Reagan.”

He issued a warning to fellow Republicans: adapt or be left behind. 

“I think I’ll either make a giant impact on the Cook County Republican Party and get reelected by a larger margin — or I’ll be out,” he said. “But I can tell you one thing, I’m not a title seeker. I’m here to work and I want to bring people that want to work with me.”