As we look at what is happening to the Republican Party, it may seem difficult to believe that it was originally formed as a reform party. In the 1850s political landscape, the major parties – the Whigs and the Democrats – struggled for dominance, and neither party was above anti-democratic...
June 11, 2023Dear editor; To wrap up the week, please check out my colleagues’ new pieces on Voter ID (Noel Wilkins) and the main subject of this post, mail-in voting (John Pudner’s latest piece in NewsMax, which has overtaken CNN in viewership many time slots). In May 2020, Pudner sounded...
November 14, 2022Dear editor; Well, it’s official. The Illinois Republican Party is now irrelevant at the State level. They have worked mightily to get here. The GOP has lost every Illinois House and Senate election since 2002 and the governorship for all but four years during the same time period,...
Darren Bailey, Republican Party candidate for Illinois governor, visits the Kendall County Fair in early August.
The Kendall County Republican Central Committee planning meeting and drawing at the Friendly Tap in Plano July 24 includes chairman, Jim Marter, who led the meeting and shared upcoming events.
To borrow a popular sports metaphor, 2022 is likely a rebuilding year for an Illinois Republican Party that is on the ropes (can’t get away from sports lingo). To be honest, chances of the GOP winning statewide offices next year are slim, but not impossible. And unless overturned by the...
Written in quill pen, not literally; it was 1965, my master’s thesis was about “Leaderless Politics: The Illinois Republican Party.” Not much has changed. That was an era when party organization mattered. My thesis was that when Republicans lost control of the governorship, the party became leaderless. Not much has...
