Chicago City Wire

In just a few short months as Chairman of the Federation of Illinois Young Republicans, Evan Kasal has been leading a successful statewide effort to grow the organization. 

Since being elected to the position in March, Kasal—who also serves as a Ward Committeeman in Chicago—has added four new chapters of Young Republicans in Illinois, something he noted Young Republican movements in other states have struggled to accomplish.

“The Illinois YR (Young Republicans) now has—excitingly—11 chapters. But when I got involved and was treasurer before becoming chair, we had seven,” Kasal told Chicago City Wire. 

Under Kasal’s leadership, the group has added several chapters, including the Forgottonia Young Republicans—which serves Knox, Fulton, McDonough and Warren counties—as well as the Champaign County Young Republicans, Metro East Young Republicans and North Cook Young Republicans.

“If I have anywhere where there isn't currently a chapter, I'm open to starting a new chapter,” he said. 

Kasal is actively seeking leaders to establish new Young Republican chapters in Southern Cook County and several other targeted areas. He is working on launching chapters in Sangamon, Tazewell, Hancock and Adams counties, with additional leads in McHenry, Ogle, Lee and LaSalle counties. 

Young Republican chapters can be joined or started by individuals between the ages of 18 and 40.

Kasal encourages potential applicants for new Young Republican chapters to contact him via email at evan.kasal@chicagogop.com or Illinoisyr@gmail.com or by phone at (312) 919-9771. 

Kasal’s chairmanship began in what he describes as a “rebuild year” for local and state politics.

“Out of every fourth year, there is like a rebuild year in Chicago,” he said. “Because we have next year, we have midterm. Year after that we had mayoral and alderman, and a year after that is the presidential. So we have three years back to back to back of races, and this is a year where I don't have as much politically, which means you can rebuild.”

He emphasized the importance of focusing efforts on strengthening the party’s position ahead of the major U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections, scheduled for just under a year and a half from now on Nov. 3, 2026.

“I think it is important to build towards the governor's race, because that's obviously our highest profile seat, followed by the Senate, depending on how you look at it,” he said. “They're both equally at that profile, whatever. That's kind of been my pitch—right now, it's just breathing the life out of these.”

Kasal explained his approach to managing internal party dynamics during primary elections. 

“I've been instructing my YR chairs to not interfere in primaries,” he said. “Now I know that these chairs elected me. So the way it works is that each county chair has a certain amount of votes in my board. And so I can't directly say to them, ‘don't support this candidate’ or ‘don't support that candidate’ or whatever. My general philosophy is I won't support anything publicly as a part of the chair—the only way unless my entire board agrees.”

Kasal highlighted the organization’s recent efforts to elevate its public profile through more coordinated and modern communication strategies.

“(We) have been very social media active. And I think that's really pushed the YRs up in profile,” he said. “The Facebook page was barely being used. Instagram, I don't think even existed. And since then, they've been doing a very good job organizing it, creating—like, kind of combining all of the Twitter and Facebook accounts into a consistent message. And it's still in its infancy, obviously, because it's only been since March, but the whole thing—the kickoff of it's been pretty exciting.”

Kasal explained that his leadership approach focuses on channeling the enthusiasm and skills of young political staffers to reinvigorate the organization.

“My whole thing has been like, I want to breathe energy back into this organization," Kasal said. "My big pitch has been to everybody in politics—I tell all the elected politicians—I am like, here's the deal. You and I know that you have the young staffers on your campaign who are your best door knockers. We do all the cool stuff. They do the texting and the phone calls and the pages in Springfield and all this stuff.”

Building on that idea, Kasal outlined a long-term strategy to retain young talent and prepare them for future leadership roles.

“My big pitch has been, look, get them involved with the YRs. Make them the chair of a YR chapter in your area. That'll get them involved. That'll keep them involved because we'll have a leadership position," he said. "And then in five to 10 years, they can then run for office too, you know, or fill a county board spot or whatever it is, right? We keep people involved in politics.”

He points to the success of Kendall County Circuit Clerk Matt Prochaska, who won reelection in 2024, as an example of someone using the Young Republicans as a jumping-off point.

“That's a pretty big position,” he said. 

Kasal ran unsuccessfully for the Cook County Board of Commissioners District 2 seat in the 2022 general election. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Dennis Deer, receiving 12.1% of the vote compared to Deer’s 87.9%.

“It was a heavily gerrymandered Democrat district but I ran to be part of the team to learn how it works and collected my signatures,” Kasal said. 

Looking ahead to his own political ambitions, Kasal shared his plans for the near future.

“I probably myself will run for something next year as well,” Kasal said. 

Kasal said the effort he and others are putting in matches the opportunity presented by a historically unpopular Democratic Party.

“The Democrats have controlled Illinois lock steps for years, right?” he said. “But it feels to me like that control has started starting to fade away.”

Kasal discussed the shifting dynamics within the Democratic Party and its traditional voter base in Illinois, including changing voter allegiances.

In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump significantly expanded his support among Latino men, Asian voters, Black men and Generation Z, helping him win nearly 9 million more votes than in 2016. 

Exit polls revealed a historic shift as traditionally Democratic groups, including Black and Hispanic voters, moved toward the GOP, driven largely by concerns about the economy and immigration. 

Trump’s gains contrasted with Vice President Kamala Harris’s struggles to retain key demographics such as suburban women and long-time Democratic voters.

Kasal highlighted the growing challenges Democrats face in maintaining their influence and noted how shifting political dynamics are impacting the party’s traditional base in Illinois.

“Democrats are losing power because Trump is undercutting them,” Kasal said. “There's a lot of different groups that are trying to be the next leaders of the Democrat Party in Illinois and then of course you have these demographics that voted Democrat for decades, like the Black vote, the Hispanic vote, working class vote, they're all bleeding to Republicans.”

A recent CNN poll revealed that Democrats face particularly low favorability, with only 16% of respondents viewing them as having strong leaders, compared to 40% for Republicans, and just 19% saying Democrats can get things done versus 36% for Republicans.

In Chicago politics, those doubts are personified by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

A February 2025 poll by M3 Strategies found Johnson’s approval rating at a historic low, with only 6.6% of likely voters viewing him favorably and nearly 80% expressing disapproval.

Termed “Mayor Jitters” by some due to crippling panic attacks that have required hospitalization, Johnson’s tenure, which began on May 15, 2023, has been chaotic.

The former Cook County Commissioner was a lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) prior to taking office.

CTU’s assessment of special dues, which swelled Johnson’s campaign funds by millions, has come under scrutiny in a lawsuit launched by CTU members.

Johnson was also caught on camera running from NBC 5's Mary Ann Ahern and other reporters who sought an impromptu interview with him.

Kasal pointed to Johnson’s tenure in Chicago as a sign of shifting power within Illinois. 

“You look at the unpopularity of the Chicago mayor, right, all of Illinois politics is controlled by Chicago and Cook,” he said. “Not all, but a very large percentage. And it's like the fact that the Democrats can't even put up a good candidate for mayor, and it's been two in a row that are basically being run out of town. It feels like their power over Illinois is slipping.”