Will County Gazette

Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy thanked the participants at the party’s recent meeting in Bolingbrook.

Tracy noted the party’s dedication to reforming the state in 2023. 

“Thank you for attending our State Central Committee (SCC) meeting in Bolingbrook, especially to many of you that drove long distances to join us,” Tracy said in his weekly memo. “We appreciate your sincere work and desire to help the Illinois Republican Party grow and succeed.” 

Evaluating the party's previous meetings, the chairman noted that its "SCC meetings being Board meetings and not general meetings of all Republicans or a town hall format," they "traditionally do not widely publicize those meetings and usually have only a handful of public commentators." Tracy applauded the bigger number of attendees in the most recent meeting, "This time, due to promotion of the meeting by outside groups and individuals, our meeting had a record attendance, over 60 public commentators, and not enough chairs to accommodate all attendees.” He has also mentioned that "Democrats do not have open SCC meetings to the general public." 

“Although we usually allow less than a minute per speaker for public comments, due to the extraordinary public interest in this particular meeting, we allowed 1-1/2 minutes per speaker," Tracy added. "Even with the expanded time limit, plus a short grace period, many of you who spoke may not have been able to say everything you wanted to say. Accordingly, for everyone that spoke during public comment, and even for those who did not wish to speak, please feel free to send me your full thoughts, recommendations and offers.”

At the meeting, Tracy discussed the state GOP’s dedication to election integrity as well as a game plan for 2023. The Illinois GOP Chairman vowed that the caucus “will continue to build up our infrastructure of human and financial capital to lay the groundwork for future success, so we can compete and win in the Chicago suburbs and in the large downstate cities that resemble those suburbs. Through teamwork, we can loosen the Democrat stronghold on downstate university towns like Champaign, DeKalb, Carbondale, Macomb, Normal, Peoria, and Charleston.” 

Will County was one of the few bright spots for Republicans in the 2022 Nov. 8 General Election where Republicans picked up seats, evening the partisan divide on the county board. Will County Board member and Homer Township Supervisor Steve Balich was encouraged by the result and said it should put to bed claims that Democrats were ginning upvote counts – at least locally.  “On the Will County Board, we ended up picking up seats. We tied 11-11 and that was with the map that they drew,” Balich, who won re-election on Nov. 8, told Will County Gazette.

In early December, Republican Judy Ogalla was selected as Chair of the body. As the legislative leader, she will oversee board functions. Balich was elected as Republican leader, the Chicago Tribune reported.