Amid Intraparty Infighting, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy Steps Down

SPRINGFIELD, IL — The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party announced his resignation Wednesday, citing infighting within the party and concerns over its "grass roots."

Don Tracy, a Springfield lawyer, was elected to lead the party in February 2021. He announced his resignation less than a month before the Republican National Convention is due to begin in Milwaukee and two days after the ouster of the party's vice chair, Mark Shaw, over allegations of voter fraud.

In his letter of resignation, Tracy said he had been under the impression when he took on the role that he would be focused on raising money, fighting Democrats and electing Republicans.

"Unfortunately, however, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities that continued after primaries and County Chair elections," Tracy said.

Tracy's resignation comes in the wake of a delegate scandal at last month's state GOP convention involving former party vice chair Mark Shaw, the 10th Congressional District committeeperson and former leader of the Lake County Republican Party.

Shaw was accused of voting as a delegate and distributing delegate badges improperly at the convention in Collinsville. And after he lost a vote to serve as a delegate to next month's national convention, he admittedly threatened to fight a supporter of a rival.

Prior to his resignation, Tracy said he was unable to remove Shaw himself but conveyed the demand from a majority of the party's State Central Committee for the vice chair to step down.

Tracy is concerned that some members of the central committee were enamored with "certain individuals they call 'grass roots' leaders," he said in his resignation letter.

"Recent events including the RNC Committeeman election, immediately followed by the retribution sacking of the losing candidate Vice-Chair Mark Shaw, a long time State Party leader and worker, without due process and without taking any step to disciplining others for alleged or admitted Convention misconduct, portends a direction of the State Party I am not comfortable with," he said.

Tracy ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party's nomination for lieutenant governor in 2010, garnering 11 percent of the vote and coming in third out of six candidates. In 2016, former Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed him to chair the Illinois Gaming Board.

He and his 11 younger siblings operate Dot Foods, a Mt. Sterling-based food redistributor founded by his father.

Tracy said his resignation was unconnected to a Chicago Tribune report published Tuesday that anonymously quoted party sources, with one describing Tracy as "incredibly weak right now, because he doesn’t have any support. Nobody is standing up and saying, ‘We really want Don.’"

According to his letter, Tracy's resignation takes effect when his successor is elected and "preferably" prior to July 19 — the day after the Republican National Convention wraps up in Milwaukee with the nomination of former President Donald Trump.

In the meantime, Tracy appointed Jan Weber to lead a search committee to find his successor.

Read more: Illinois Republican Leaders Oust Vice Chair Mark Shaw Over 'Trans Delegate' Scandal