The balloons are deflated at Fiserv Stadium and the state’s Republican National Convention delegation is back in Illinois after four raucous days.
Here’s what Republicans, Democrats and political experts took away from the nomination of former President Donald Trump.
Advantage GOP
While Democrats are divided on whether President Joe Biden should drop out of the race, Republicans have got their act together, said at-large delegate Aaron Del Mar of Palatine.
“On a national level, we saw that there was a healing between (former Trump rivals) Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy. They all were looking for an opportunity to win that Republican primary — and then came together at the RNC in order to heal those wounds and be a united party,” said Del Mar, a former lieutenant governor candidate.
Conservative Republican and former gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives of Wheaton thinks the RNC “showed that we have a lot of different folks who have come around to Trump’s policy agenda. I say that because — you saw showcased on the stage a number of folks who admittedly said, ‘I wasn’t really with Trump, even in 2020,’” she said.
Illinois delegate Mark Shaw was on the floor during the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Monday.
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Illinois Democrats primed
The RNC added fuel to the fire of Illinois Democrats who host the DNC in Chicago next month.
“The Republican National Convention concluded and the Illinois GOP wrapped up a week of cozying up to Donald Trump and ignoring his lies, blabbering, criminal record and hateful rhetoric,” Democratic Party of Illinois officials said in a statement.
The DPI “wants the electorate to know that the GOP has a blatant anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ+ and whitewashing agenda for our state and nation.”
It’s Trump’s party
Asked how the GOP has changed since Trump’s 2016 election, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria said “campaigns in general are all nationalized now. I mean, listen, this is the party of Donald Trump. It’s not the party of George Herbert Walker Bush or George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan.
“We’ve had three cycles now — Trump in 2016, Trump in 2020, Trump in 2024. It’s a different party, and times change in our democracy with our parties and so Trump has attracted a different voter.”
Moderates in the middle
So is there room in the Illinois Republican Party for moderates such as state Sen. Seth Lewis of Bartlett?
“I think there is. I think there always has been. I think there has to be if we’re going to grow,” Lewis said.
“I view myself as a moderate suburban Republican, and that’s a tough position to be in — as the leaders of the (Democratic) party use their rhetoric either calling us carnival barkers or racists. And then, there are those on the far right who call us RINOs.”
Lewis said he appreciated calls for unity and a focus on policy at the RNC. But regarding the Republican platform’s immigration goals and delegates waving signs saying “Mass Deportation Now,” Lewis said “unfortunately those people have a right to free speech but we don’t have to agree with or tolerate that type of speech.”
Trump’s coattails
In the RNC’s wake, Ives noted, “there are congressional seats now definitely in play.” And, “Trump has coattails like none other this year.”
Other Republicans agreed the messaging at the event and the platform can help in the November elections.
“I was impressed with the RNC’s ability over the week to portray the good governance things that Republicans want to get happening in this country,” State Rep. Jeff Keicher of Sycamore said, citing taxation reform as one example.
“I think that normalcy is what the average Illinoisan is looking for because they want as little government intrusion as possible,” he said.
Likewise, “the platform lays out the Trump agenda in a way that is more well-received in the suburbs,” former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy said.
But the national GOP postconvention momentum is unlikely to extend to Illinois, political scientist Kent Redfield thinks.
The party has no statewide elected officials, a tiny congressional contingent and limited money, explained Redfield, University of Illinois at Springfield professor emeritus.
“The Republican Party has lost the suburbs,” Redfield said. “And you’re not going to win those people back with anti-abortion and anti-immigrant (positions). You can’t win statewide with downstate (votes), you’ve got to get the suburbs, and you can’t do that with Trump’s rhetoric.”
∙ Daily Herald staff reporters Alicia Fabbre, Chris Placek and Steve Zalusky contributed to this report.
Former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey gives a thumbs-up on the floor of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Monday.
John Starks/[email protected]
Rockford pediatrician and Illinois delegate Errol Baptist looks at the crowd during the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Monday.
John Starks/[email protected]