- No Republican candidates have publicly announced they re running for three statewide offices and just two have announced plans to run for governor as Gov. JB Pritzker seeks a third term.
- Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi says the One Big Beautiful Bill will be part of her party s pitch to voters in 2026.
- Both political parties will unofficially begin the 2026 campaign with rallies at the State Fair in Springfield this week.
The reporters and editors who worked on this story wrote this synopsis.
The spring field Strong fields are expanding in the Democratic primary for the available seats as members of Congress, including Comptroller Susana Mendoza and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, are not running for reelection in 2026.
Governor JB Pritzker has been running for office for almost a month and is vying for an uncommon third term. A rush of state-level Democrats aiming to advance in politics is being sparked by the three prominent Democrats running to succeed Durbin.
However, in the Republican primary races for statewide posts thus far, it is a dead end.
This is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4fQxATOylI
“We have a weak bench in Illinois because we’ve been decimated,” former Republican State Representative Mark Batinick, who is currently a political consultant, told Capitol News Illinois.
According to the state party chair, the GOP will mostly concentrate on Washington during this week’s Illinois State Fair campaign days, which are long considered the unofficial beginning of the election season in Illinois. This is because there aren’t any notable candidates at the state level.
In an interview, Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi stated, “We have an opportunity in Illinois not only because Pritzker is such a trainwreck but also because so many great things are happening with the leadership of this Republican president.”
However, since President Donald Trump first joined the national political arena in 2016, Illinois Republicans have found it extremely difficult to win statewide elections. In 2018, two years later, Pritzker was elected governor when a blue wave swept the country in Trump’s first midterm election. Since then, Democrats running for statewide office have won handily.
Only two lesser-known Republicans have so far indicated that they would like to run against Pritzker in 2026. There has been no word of anyone running for secretary of state, treasurer, or comptroller, but a similar group of lesser-known individuals are thinking about running for the U.S. Senate.
Salvi stated that she anticipates a Republican contender for every statewide office in November, despite the fact that the election cycle is still early. The petition collection phase started last week and will continue until October.
GOP s 2026 message
Even while the Illinois GOP has attempted to downplay Trump’s influence under her predecessor, Don Tracy, who is thinking about running for statewide office, Salvi stated that the party will not back down from Trump.
Salvi stated that supporting the One Big Beautiful Bill will be a crucial component of her party’s 2026 platform, which she thinks will appeal to voters. She urged voters to overlook their disagreements with Trump and focus on areas where they agree with him.
Salvi remarked, “Look at this White House’s success.” Visit the White House website at least once a week to stay up to date on current events. And it’s okay if you don’t like anything. Just don’t discuss that. Pay attention to what you enjoy. Discover the things we share in common.
For the Illinois Freedom Caucus, a group of the most extreme politicians in the General Assembly who have chastised the party for not supporting Trump in prior years, that is a welcome tactic.
In an interview, Collin Moseley, the state director of the caucus, stated that while they want the party to back candidates who share Trump’s views, there are still too many officials in the Illinois party who do not share his views.
According to Moseley, the main reason it’s being suppressed is because of those in our own party who despise Donald Trump and are desperately trying to push our party farther to the left rather than to the right on issues that affect working families. We are confined to this antiquated campaigning style and the largely disoriented Republican Party.
Salvi also hopes to build on Trump’s 2024 performance in Illinois, where he reduced deficits of 17 points in 2016 and 2020 to roughly 11 points, primarily as a result of a decline in Democratic votes. Democrats targeted a number of weak districts in Springfield, but Republicans did not lose seats.
Pritzker beatable?
Citing the findings of a poll issued Thursday by his polling firm and commissioned by the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, where Batinick also serves as a policy consultant, Batinick contended that Pritzker is defeatable. Pritzker’s favorability rating was 47%, according to the report.
According to a poll of 752 probable 2026 Illinois voters conducted last month, 26% of respondents cited state administration as their main concern, while 60% of respondents said high taxes were their top concern. According to Batinick, Pritzker is likely to run on his track record of leading the state, but he also regularly addresses national issues.
According to him, JB Pritzker is not currently discussing the issues that are important to Illinoisans.
With DuPage County Sheriff Jim Mendrick as the most prominent candidate thus far, the main campaign to unseat Pritzker is still developing. Although he has declared his desire to run for governor, Lake Forest businessman Joseph Severino, who has previously run for Congress as an independent and Republican, has not registered a fundraising committee with the State Board of Elections.
Politicians who want to go up the political ladder gain from standing for office, but Republicans are avoiding entering a campaign where their chances of winning are slim in a left-leaning state because they fear losing their present elected post, according to Batinick.
According to him, everyone must sacrifice everything they have in order to run for a cause they don’t believe they can win. They’re considering a Trump reelection; they’re considering a lack of funding; they’re considering a lack of enthusiasm at the top of the ticket for senator and governor thus far.
The right Republican candidate, according to Batinick, can defeat Governor JB Pritzker and overcome his spending prowess.
A Republican candidate is going to have to work hard on the ground and we re going to have to band together to really match the money that he can just buy, Batinick said. Republicans will need to rely on volunteers to do this. It is feasible; all you need is someone who inspires the general people.
Other offices
In the Senate race, four Republicans have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and are actively raising money.
Former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy isreportedlyconsidering running for either governor or Senate and is expected to make an announcement soon. Ted Dabrowski, the president of conservative research site Wirepoints, is also considering running for governor.
Bob Fioretti, who has unsuccessfully run for several offices as a member of both parties, isreportedlycirculating petitions to run for attorney general.
But even as petition-gathering begins, no other candidates are publicly known to be interested in running for other statewide offices. Notable names, including U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood and former Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter have declined to run for governor or Senate.
Candidate recruitment isn t the state party s role but rather turning out voters, said Salvi, an attorney from Mundelein who was the party s nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Democrats national focus
While Republicans head into the State Fair still in search of people to run for statewide office, Democrats have two primary elections for statewide offices and three crowded primaries for congressional seats in the Chicago area.
The primary for the open comptroller seat continues to expand. Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, announced on Monday she will run for the seat, joining Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, and Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim in the race as other Democrats also consider jumping in.
But even as some Democrats gear up to compete against each other, much of the party s focus this summer has been on national politics, including currently hosting Democrats in the Texas House who left their state to prevent a vote on redrawing Texas congressional maps.
Read more:Texas Dems flee to Illinois to block redistricting vote
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies will attend the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association’s annual brunch in Springfield on Wednesday as part of the State Fair celebrations, following the Illinois Democratic Party’s hosting of Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin last week for one of several news conferences with Texas Democrats in the western suburbs.
Illinoisans face unprecedented harm from Donald Trump and Elon Musk and I cannot think of a better national leader right now to talk to our party about how to meet this moment, association President Mark Guethle said in a statement.
Pritzker, who has put himself at the center of Texas redistricting fight, will also hold the governor s traditional event at the State Fair on Wednesday afternoon. Pritzker has continued trying to grow his national profile this summer amid speculation he plans to run for president in 2028, including with an appearance on Stephen Colbert s late-night show on CBS last week.
The Republicans will host FOX News analyst Gianno Caldwell as their keynote speaker at the fair on Thursday.
Capitol News Illinoisis a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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