Kathy Salvi elected as next Illinois Republican Party chair

Illinois Republicans on Friday elected former U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Salvi as the next chair of the state GOP, naming the Mundelein attorney as the new face of the struggling state party just days ahead of the Republican National Convention.

Salvi will take the reins of the Illinois Republican Party on July 19, the day after the RNC concludes in Milwaukee, under the timeline laid out by outgoing chair Don Tracy.

He announced his resignation last month, complaining of wasting “far too much time dealing with intra-party power struggles” instead of strategizing to chip away at Democratic control of all Illinois’ statewide elected offices and both chambers of the Legislature.

"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," Salvi said in a statement. "Illinois Republicans will stand and fight for our conservative ideals and set this state, and nation, back on the right track."

Tracy congratulated Salvi "for taking on this challenging yet important position to build a brighter future for Illinois."

"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."

Salvi — who lost her most recent previous political foray as the 2022 GOP challenger to Sen. Tammy Duckworth — was a late entry in the contest to replace Tracy. She edged out northern Illinois state Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) and Aaron Del Mar, the former Cook County GOP chair and an at-large delegate to the RNC.

Party officials said she won by acclamation.

Del Mar said he bowed out of the race before the Republican State Central Committee voted, calling Salvi “a strong and energetic spirit” who also “has a subtle touch and a kind heart that I think will go a long way toward healing some of the divisions we’re working through.”

Salvi’s main challenge will be finding common ground between hardline conservative members of the party who have moved farther right with the ascendance of Donald Trump, and moderate members who have tried to distance themselves from the former president who remains unpopular with most Illinois voters.

She fell somewhere in the middle of that spectrum during her failed bid Senate against Duckworth, shying away from wider national party myths about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and identifying as anti-abortion rights with exceptions for rape, incest or cases that risk the life of the mother.

That campaign was mostly self-funded, as was her unsuccessful 2006 primary bid for a U.S. House seat.

“I believe she’s willing to work with the grassroots community in tandem with the establishment and donor base to ensure Republican voices are elevated in our state,” Del Mar said.

The Democratic Party of Illinois slammed Salvi's election, claiming in a statement that her "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."