ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY
— PRESS RELEASE: Bob Grogan Elected Chair of the Illinois Republican Party
http://www.illinois.gop
(THE PRESS RELEASE: CHICAGO — Today, The State Central Committee of the Illinois Republican Party elected Bob Grogan as the next Chair, effective immediately. Grogan released the following statement following the election: “I am honored and humbled to be elected as the next Chair of the Illinois Republican Party. I’m grateful to my good friend, Chair Salvi, for her dedication to the party and her work to build a brighter future for Illinois families. Illinois Republicans are united and I’m excited to get to work electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.” Bob Grogan is a lifelong resident of DuPage County, where he served as DuPage County Auditor from 2008 to 2020. As Auditor, Grogan focused on transparency, radically transforming the office to make the County Checkbook publicly available, create a transparency portal and create a fraud hotline. His work rooted out waste, fraud and abuse, saving Illinois taxpayers millions of dollars, and the removal of county employees and criminal convictions by the State’s Attorney. Grogan lives in Downers Grove with his wife, Beth. NOTE: Chair Grogan was not elected by acclimation as previously stated.)
ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY
— May 18, 2026 post by three of the Republican statewide candidates (Fioretti, Harris, and Solomon) concerning the IRP chairman election
https://www.facebook.com/search/top
(THE POSTING: To the members of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee: Before you vote today for State Chairperson of the party, we, the statewide candidates whose names will be on the ballot this fall, we want to weigh in on who the leader of our party should be moving forward. We understand and respect that this is your decision to make, but we want our voices heard and considered ahead of the vote. The work Chairwoman Kathy Salvi has done to build the party in the two years since she took over the party leadership has laid the groundwork for a victory statewide this November. She has professionalized the fund-raising arm of the party. Absent a Republican Governor, the state party has never raised more money, and this has been done without the benefit of billionaire donors from previous election cycles. Her insistence on focusing in 2024 on improving party performance with early, mail-in voting, and targeting intermittent Republicans resulted in the following results: -Additional 77,000 R voters to vote by mail or vote early, -Additional 202,000 R voters on Election Day, -The ILGOP increased R mail and early vote turnout by 35%, -1 in 4 low propensity R voters voted before Election Day, the highest in IL History, -Roughly 2,450,000 R voters, -303,000 more R voters compared to Trump’s first run. In addition, in 2024, 98 out of 102 counties, 29 of 30 Cook County Townships, and 48 of 50 Chicago Wards increased their Republican turnout over 2020. We believe these across-the-board increases in GOP turnout can be attributed in large part to the efforts made by the Illinois Republican Party under Kathy Salvi’s leadership. This demonstrated success at party building, her boundless energy in carrying the Republican fight to every corner of our great state, and her being a constant source of wisdom in advising GOP candidates, fund-raising, and messaging is unparalleled. If the party makes the same numerical gains in 2026 that it did in 2024, we will be victorious. In short, five months before this general election is no time to upend our effective party leadership. We are asking you to please vote for Kathy Salvi to be our Chairman. We would be happy to answer any questions from members of the Central Committee. Thank you for your consideration.)
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— New Illinois GOP chair elected as voting data shows record-low primary turnout and suburban voter collapse. DD: I am one of those who are reluctant to blame Salvi for Republican losses. See the statement from Fioretti, Harris, and Solomon above. Serving as the chairman of a political organization is a thankless job. They are always blamed for their party’s losses. I survived for 7 years as the chairman of TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois 2005-2012. During that time, I invited speakers for all 78 of the organization’s monthly meetings, August picnics, and December Christmas parties. I should list all those who spoke at those events. My critics/opponents always demonized, denigrated, and condemned those who spoke at those events. To end my TAPROOT chairmanship and to destroy TAPROOT in 2012, my critics/opponents had their TAPROOT officers and their TAPROOT directors charge me with gross incompetence. They argued/shouted that anyone could do a better job of heading TAPROOT than I did. Previously, to end my membership on the Illinois Center Right Coalition (ICRC) Steering Committee (SC) and to destroy ICRC in 2007, they almost got their ICRC SC members to get ICRC to censure me for my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters in 2006. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on IRP SCC members since 1999. What Grogan’s response be to Thomas DeVore’s criticisms?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/18/new-illinois-gop-chair-elected/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Former DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan was elected Monday as the new chair of Illinois’ Republican Party, taking over what has become a moribund political organization that new election data shows has hemorrhaged voters from what was once its key suburban base and a March primary turnout that is the lowest non-presidential-year balloting in four decades. Grogan, of Downers Grove, was elected by the state GOP’s 17 state central committee members in a closed meeting held virtually on Monday. He defeated incumbent state Chair Kathy Salvi of Mundelein, who was elected to the post in July 2024 following the resignation of Don Tracy of Springfield, the GOP’s current U.S. Senate nominee. Grogan had held the DuPage County auditor’s post for three terms before losing by 75 votes to Democrat Bill White in 2020 and by fewer than 5,000 votes in a rematch in 2024. Grogan also made an unsuccessful 2014 GOP primary bid for the party’s nomination for state treasurer. Though four candidates ran for the post, including former Kendall County Board Chair Scott Gryder and Lawrence Stowe of Moline, only Grogan and Salvi received votes, with Grogan gaining the majority of the weighted vote of the 17 state central committee members on a single ballot, according to a person familiar with the voting process who was not authorized to speak. In a statement, Grogan said he was “honored and humbled” to assume the post and thanked Salvi for her work. Grogan called the state GOP “united” and said he was “excited to get to work electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.” Grogan takes over a Republican state party that has been plagued by factional infighting with few successes over Democrats who hold all statewide offices, a majority of state Supreme Court justices and supermajorities in both the Illinois House and Senate. The GOP’s dire standing in Illinois was reflected in Republican voter turnout in the March 17 primary, according to an analysis of primary voting data by the Tribune. Despite competitive Republican races for the party’s nomination for governor and U.S. Senate, Democrats, with their own battle for the U.S. Senate, swamped the GOP in ballots cast. Nearly 1.3 million Democratic votes were cast compared to 591,913 GOP ballots — a 68% to 31% turnout advantage for Democrats — based on official primary results recently certified by the Illinois State Board of Elections. There were more than 220,000 fewer Republican votes cast in the 2026 primary compared to four years earlier, when downstate farmer Darren Bailey, the current GOP nominee for governor, won a costly contested ballot battle to seek the state’s highest office, only to lose the 2022 general election to Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker by nearly 13 percentage points. The poor Republican turnout in March was the party’s lowest since the 1986 primary, when then-Gov. James R. Thompson, a Republican, was en route to a record fourth term as Illinois’ chief executive, and two little-known Republicans challenged each other for the right to take on a then-undefeatable Democratic U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon. In that primary, 570,661 Republicans cast ballots. Worse strategically for Republicans has been the gradual erosion of GOP votes in suburban Cook County and the collar counties surrounding Democrat-heavy Chicago in the last dozen years, the state elections board figures show. Once the base of Republicanism in Illinois, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Will and McHenry counties have become increasingly Democratic in recent years as the GOP has turned further rightward. The state GOP’s base is now firmly outside the Chicago area, where fewer voters live. In 2014, when Bruce Rauner won a heavily contested GOP primary en route to his single term as governor and served as the last Republican elected to statewide office, suburban Cook and the collar counties accounted for 424,483 Republican ballots or 51% of the statewide GOP total. But four years later, suburban Cook and the collars fell to 47% of the statewide GOP primary vote, and in 2022, the region dropped to 43% of the statewide Republican turnout. In March, the suburban vote, a key region for any candidate to win a statewide race, had fallen to only 39% of Illinois’ GOP primary total. “You can draw a direct line, in my opinion, from Donald Trump into the demise of the Illinois Republican Party because Donald Trump’s message never has and never will sell in the suburbs,” said Pat Brady, a former state GOP chairman from 2009-2013. “I think they’ve abandoned my notion of traditional conservatism for Trumpism, which is populism, and they’ve bought all in, and so whatever Trump says or does, they agree with, and they’re not going to change their minds, no matter what he does, and that has decimated the Illinois Republican Party,” he said. Brady said he was “optimistic” that the GOP nationally would move in a different direction, toward traditional conservatism and away from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” posture, after the president’s term ends in 2029. “But if the party is looking for another Donald Trump, we’re going to be in the same boat in Illinois going forward as we have been for the last dozen years,” he said.)
— Subjects in Park Forest documentary share stories of town’s racial ‘Utopia’ era. DD: I attended eighth grade at Hope Lutheran Grade School in Park Forest 1961-1962. I delivered mail in Park Forest 1966-1969. I collected delinquent federal taxes in Park Forest 1972-1973. I owned a townhome in Park Forest South (now University Park) 1972-1984.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/17/park-forest-documentary-racial-utopia-era/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/05/18/ald-jessie-fuentes-lawsuit-federal-government-immigration-raid-abuse-operation-midway-blitz
DAILY HERALD
— Justice Department announces a $1.7B fund to compensate Trump allies in a deal to drop IRS suit. DD: To get rid of me, my Democrat IRS superiors a) disallowed my travel vouchers in 1974, b) got rid of the IRS manager who had promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974, c) ignored/dismissed/belittled my earning an MBA in 1976, d) disallowed my education deductions in 1978, e) ignored/dismissed/belittled my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, and f) refused to promote me beyond GS-12.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260518/nation-and-world-politics/trump-moves-to-dismiss-10b-suit-against-the-internal-revenue-service-over-leak-of-tax-returns/
NBC5
— DD: Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will run for President.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/pritzker-asked-about-possible-white-house-run-opposition-to-trump-in-new-interview/3937154/
RIVER BENDER
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran against America.
https://www.riverbender.com/news/details/duckworth-warns-trumps-iran-tactics-risk-a-forever-war-93478.cfm?
CHICAGO MAGAZINE
— Pritzker Isn’t Thinking About Running for President (or so he says)
https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/june-july-2026/jb-pritzkers-moment/
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2026/05/18/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-527/
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2026/05/18/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-739/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— ICE relied on ‘honor system’ to track illegal immigrants from Biden’s catch-and-release
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/may/18/ice-relied-honor-system-track-illegal-immigrants-bidens-catch-release/
— Republican voters want team players. Those who run divergent to MAGA agenda face party expulsion. DD: Jim Ryan backers continue to destroy me because I backed Pat O’Malley in the 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/may/18/republican-voters-want-team-players/
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
— New York Times Blames Jews For Antisemitism—In Obituary of ADL Chief Abe Foxman
https://freebeacon.substack.com/p/new-york-times-blames-jews-for-antisemitismin
AMERICAN GREATNESS
— Supreme Court May Agree to Hear a First Amendment Case Against District 211. A teacher’s firing over off-duty Facebook posts has reached SCOTUS, exposing how a politicized school board used “disruption” claims to punish dissent.
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/18/supreme-court-may-agree-to-hear-a-first-amendment-case-against-district-211/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Illinois’ worst school board member, District 211’s arrogant leftist Kim Cavill, may finally be getting what she so richly deserves: infamy on the national level. Her name has come up in a case being considered by the Supreme Court of the United States.)
AMERICAN THINKER
— Systemic racism is real; the ‘system’ is the Democrat Party.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/systemic_racism_is_real_the_system_is_the_democrat_party.html
— The climate scam is fueled by stupidity more than fraud.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/the_climate_scam_is_fueled_by_stupidity_more_than_fraud.html
— Major victory against the abomination of child transgenderism
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/major_victory_against_the_abomination_of_child_transgenderism.html
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Trump: Massie ‘must be thrown out of office’ DD: I have survived as a Republican Precinct Committeeman since 1999. I have survived as the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000. I survived as the Republican fundraiser for Wheaton Independence Day parades and fireworks 2005-2021. I survived as the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman 2005-2012. I survived as an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5882724-donald0-trump-targets-thomas-massie-primary/
CNN
— DD: the Democrat Party and its mainstream news media exist to drive Trump’s poll numbers down.
https://www.cnn.com/polling/approval/trump-cnn-poll-of-polls
POLITICO
— Trump settles $10B lawsuit against IRS over leaked tax returns. DD: To get rid of me, my Democrat IRS superiors a) disallowed my travel vouchers in 1974, b) got rid of the IRS manager who had promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974, c) ignored/dismissed/belittled my earning an MBA in 1976, d) disallowed my education deductions in 1978, e) ignored/dismissed/belittled my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, and f) refused to promote me beyond GS-12.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/18/trump-irs-lawsuit-settlement-00925801
