Salvi Elected Illinois Republican Party Chair
Kathy Salvi, who was elected Illinois Republican Party Chair Friday, campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2022. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
NOTE: This story was originally posted for subscribers only. To receive subscriber-only newsletters and content, click here.
Kathy Salvi, a suburban conservative who was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022, was elected chair of the Illinois Republican Party Friday.
Salvi, of Mundelein, was elected at a special meeting Friday afternoon of the GOP State Central Committee. She replaces Don Tracy, who announced his resignation from the post last month effective at the end of next week’s Republican National Convention.
She was the GOP nominee for United States Senate in 2022, losing to Sen. Tammy Duckworth 57%-42%. She finished second in a GOP congressional primary in 2006.
Salvi was chosen over Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) and State Central Committeeman Aaron Del Mar. Though, sources say Del Mar withdrew from consideration shortly before the vote.
Sources say Salvi received around 56% of the weighted vote over Cabello to secure the position.
In a statement after the vote, Salvi vowed to get the Illinois GOP, and state government “back on track.”
"It is an honor to be recognized by my fellow Illinois Republicans as the next Chair of the Illinois Republican Party,” she said. “As we prepare to nominate the next President of the United States, Illinois stands as a testament to what Democrat governance can do: out of control cost of living, rampant crime, and rife with corruption. Illinois Republicans will stand and fight for our conservative ideals and set this state, and nation, back on the right track.”
Salvi, who officially becomes chair next Friday, inherits a party divided among social and geographical lines, facing uphill battles in gerrymandered legislative and congressional races, and a nominee for President that has lost Illinois by a million votes twice.
Her selection angered a far-right wing of the party, including former Attorney General candidate Tom DeVore, who called on all 17 members of the Illinois GOP state central committee to resign.
“Since the cluster [of] a convention (there was a controversy over fake delegates in the May state GOP convention), this whole thing has been such a debacle that it’s an embarrassment,” DeVore wrote on Facebook. “They should all be disqualified. All of them are an embarrassment!! We need a special election now so we don’t have to wait for two years to pick a new committee!”
No process exists to elect a new state central committee before 2026.
Democrats jumped on Salvi’s selection, calling her a “far-right extremist.”
“The ILGOP is littered with anti-abortion extremists, but it is now chaired by someone who once opposed abortions for victims of rape, saying, ‘abortion only adds insult to injury.’ The election of Kathy Salvi is not just a threat to the ILGOP’s ill-fated ticket, but to women all across our state,” the Democratic Party of Illinois wrote in an unsigned statement. “Kathy Salvi's extreme stances on healthcare, immigration, and women's rights are fundamentally at odds with the values of Illinois working families. Salvi will fit right in with the modern-day ILGOP as she is no stranger to losing elections. We defeated Kathy Salvi and MAGA extremism across Illinois in 2022, and we are more determined than ever to combat the ILGOP’s far-right agenda at the ballot box this November.”
Ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, outgoing chairman Don Tracy congratulated Salvi and confirmed the party’s support of former President Donald Trump.
“Republicans in this state are united behind President Trump and understand that the Biden/Pritzker agenda is wrong for our families,” Tracy said in a statement. “We will show in Milwaukee this week that we are unified in purpose - to make this state and this country great once again with a message of hope and prosperity for the future."