Will 2026 be the year Illinois GOP primary voters learn politics?
By Paul Miller
There is no second-place on Election Day. Winners govern and losers complain on social media. Illinois Republicans have turned whining into an artform. While they are not wrong that decades of single-party Democrat/progressive rule have turned the Land of Lincoln into a late-night joke, they refuse to acknowledge their complicity in its demise.
If there were a motto that best describes Illinois GOP primary voters, it would be: Let’s nominate the worst general election candidate possible!
Illinois is a “Blue State” only because of the population density in the collar counties, with the heaviest being Cook County and City of Chicago. This is where the Illinois GOP must make inroads. The rest of Illinois, with a few exceptions, is bright red.
With 2026 upon us, the new year offers Illinois voters a fresh opportunity to change Springfield. Primary Election Day is March 17. But early voting begins the 5th of February. The bombardment of political ads will commence this week. And so will the Republican primary voter litmus test.
For many Republicans, a candidate’s pro-life street cred is a make-or-break issue. Don’t get me wrong; by no means am I downplaying the issue, especially for GOP faith-based voters. But those who hold opposing views, such as suburban women, outnumber you and are just as passionate. Illinois has not elected a pro-life statewide office holder or U.S. senator this century, with the exception of Dan Rutherford for the non-ideological treasurer’s office in 2010. Let that sink in.
The GOP primary also requires a “MAGA” litmus test. I’m not referring to supporting President Trump. That should be a must for any GOP nominee. My concern is that any disagreement with the president is regarded as a mortal sin.
The catch 22 for Republicans is that the president’s endorsement will be highly advantageous in March. But the political reality is that Trump’s support for a candidate plays right into the hands of the Democrat’s campaign playbook.
Gov. Pritzker is praying for a repeat of 2022 when Democrats produced advertisements claiming State Senator and eventual GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey was “too conservative” for Illinois. They also made sure every voter north of Interstate 80 knew he appeared with Trump at a campaign rally to receive his endorsement. Bailey lost by over 12 points with 15.5% of the Chicago vote.
“We must vote our principles,” as I’ve always heard during my four decades of campaign and political consulting. And I could not agree more.
Principles does not mean closed-minded or tunnel vision. In politics, the goal has to always be winning or at the very least, advance your cause.
Real and impactful change doesn’t happen in one election cycle. GOP primary voters ought to consider that the Democrats not only control both state houses; they also have veto-proof super majorities. To be blunt, Republicans will continue to be powerless in Illinois until they can make inroads in the collar counties.
And that is the opportunity the Illinois GOP primary voter has in 2026.
There are no success stories or legislation that Gov. Pritzker and his party can run on. As I wrote this past August 13 for the New York Daily News, Texas Dems spotlight disaster called Illinois:f
The big joke told in Illinois is that Pritzker’s photo hangs in the corporate offices of U-Haul truck rental as their employee of the year. Moving businesses love Illinois Democrats and their one-party rule.
“It’s the economy and our kids, stupid!” should be the IL GOP slogan in 2026.
Under Pritzker and Democrat rule, Illinois families endure the highest property taxes and highest state and local taxes in the country. Working families pay the second highest gas taxes in the nation. Illinois students have less financial aid available to pay for college, as Democrats are providing taxpayer-funded college scholarships, stipends, and other state-funded student aid to people who are here illegally. Only 30% of our children subjected to the Chicago Public School system are proficient in reading and even fewer in math by the 8th grade.
Add the pathetic reality is that Illinois is the very definition of unfriendliness for business development and job creation, and the only thing Pritzker and his accomplices can campaign on is the vilification of President Trump, facts be damned.
It will not be easy for the GOP to overcome Pritzker’s billions available to self-fund his reelection campaign and those of his house and senate minions. That’s why Illinois Republicans must embrace kitchen table issues. Even if Republicans don’t win in 2026, let’s promote the ideals of free markets, limited government and rewarding, not punishing, working families with onerous taxation.
Republicans would be wise to invoke the “Buckley Rule.”
William F. Buckley, who founded the National Review in 1955, championed the idea that Republicans should always “support the rightward most viable candidate.” This rule is often misquoted as claiming he said, “the rightward most electable candidate.” Buckley, unlike many of our friends on the left, would never have advocated voting for just the letter next to a name on a ballot. However, he understood that political change begins at the ballot box. If your candidate is unlikely to win, let him or her at least advance your cause and ideas.
The Buckley Rule was first applied to Barry Goldwater in 1964. Even though Goldwater was trounced, his ideas gained momentum and culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan for president in 1980, the golden age of Republicanism.
Illinois can do the same. But if Republican primary voters don’t learn from history, they are doomed to a future of defeat after defeat.