PHOTO GALLERY: Illinois GOP-CCA Joint Meeting Breakfast
Published by Capitol News Illinois on Aug. 15, 2019
Article by Jerry Nowicki; Photos by Rebecca Anzel
Statehouse Reporters
SPRINGFIELD – Leading Illinois Republicans acknowledged the stark political reality their party faces in the state at a joint breakfast of the state central committee and county chairmen’s association Thursday, but said the state’s “aggressive progressive” swing to the left this year offers them an opportunity to rebound.
“We all know what happened in 2018, and I don’t want to sugarcoat anything and tell you that it was such a great year because it wasn’t,” state Republican Party Chair Tim Schneider said in his opening remarks.
His party holds a superminority in each house of the Illinois General Assembly and no statewide elected positions, and it lost two congressional seats to Democrats in the “Blue Wave” election of 2018 which saw Democrats reclaim the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The northern half of the state didn’t react very well to what was going on in the nation and we had a rough year,” Schneider said. “… That’s our current reality, but it doesn’t and it won’t be our future.”
The meeting partially filled a small room at the Wyndham hotel in Springfield, and the vast majority of the state’s 102 counties were not represented in a roll call which kicked of the event.
Those in attendance heard their leaders discuss the role of U.S. President Donald Trump and a graduated income tax ballot proposal in upcoming elections. In media interviews, those same leaders downplayed the sentiments of some in their party who have said Chicago and downstate Illinois should be separated into two states.
The unifying theme of the speakers was that the progressive tilt Illinois politicians have taken legislatively will force the pendulum of party politics back toward the right.
Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin speaks with the media at a Republican Party event Thursday morning at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. Durkin, R-Western Springs, said he expects Republicans to make gains in the Illinois House in the 2020 elections. “We lost many races by less than 2 points, some of them by 200 votes,” Durkin said of the 2018 vote that saw Democrats gain seven House seats to gain a supermajority. “We hit the perfect storm that the Democrats brought up to the suburban area of Chicago. They’re not going to replicate it again.” (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican who represents the 18th Congressional District, was one of two GOP congressmen who attended the state party’s meeting of members of the state central committee and county chairmen’s organization Thursday morning at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. Congressman Rodney Davis, who represents the 13th District, was also in attendance. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican who represents the 18th Congressional District, was one of two GOP congressmen who attended the state party’s meeting of members of the state central committee and county chairmen’s organization Thursday morning at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. Congressman Rodney Davis, who represents the 13th District, was also in attendance. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican who represents the 18th Congressional District, was one of two GOP congressmen who attended the state party’s meeting of members of the state central committee and county chairmen’s organization Thursday morning at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. Congressman Rodney Davis, who represents the 13th District, was also in attendance. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Patty Hubbard, who is seeking the Republican Party nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in the 2020 election, gave a fiery address Thursday morning during a GOP event at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. Hubbard, a military veteran and former police officer, said Republicans need to be “gladiators” in the 2020 state and federal elections. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, speaks with members of the media following Thursday’s meeting of the party’s state central committee and county chairmen’s organization at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. While Schneider acknowledged 2018 was a rough year for the party, he predicted the tide will turn toward Republicans in 2020. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, speaks with members of the media following Thursday’s meeting of the party’s state central committee and county chairmen’s organization at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. While Schneider acknowledged 2018 was a rough year for the party, he predicted the tide will turn toward Republicans in 2020. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, speaks with members of the media following Thursday’s meeting of the party’s state central committee and county chairmen’s organization at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. While Schneider acknowledged 2018 was a rough year for the party, he predicted the tide will turn toward Republicans in 2020. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Mark Shaw, president of the Illinois Republican Party’s County Chairmen’s Association, speaks during Thursday’s joint meeting of his organization and the state central committee. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and President Abraham Lincoln were featured on the fronts of T-shirts available at Thursday’s Republican Party event at the Wyndham Hotel in Springfield. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Rebecca Anzel)