By Adopting Nice-Guy Rules in Chicago, Republicans Will Continue to Go Down in Defeat
Faint resistance to Democrat machine leads to familiar results
Last month my wife and I attended a local Republican group’s monthly meeting. A top state Republican Party official was there — his name doesn’t matter, since these leaders are interchangeable cutouts.
When we returned home after the meeting, my wife turned to me and said, “I know why Republicans lose elections in Illinois — they are too nice.”
Leo Durocher, the legendary baseball manager, adds the exclamation point to what she said with his famous remark: “Nice guys finish last.”
And unless you include third and fourth party candidates, that is what the Republican Party has been doing since they last won statewide in 2014.
Chicago is even more lopsided: Its last Republican mayor was elected in 1927. Since the mid-1970s the City Council has usually had no declared Republican members at all — or at most one.
What about 2027?
When the Q&A portion of meeting began, I asked the GOP big shot this question: “What is the state party planning to do for the 2027 Chicago City Council elections?”
The answer I received was not surprising, because I’ve heard it before from suburban township and Chicago ward committeemen.
“We feel that we should not get involved in non-partisan elections.”
Yes, Chicago municipal races have been non-partisan for many years.
Because the GOP chooses to remain on the sidelines in city races, absence becomes a habit, a losing one, because roughly 20 percent of the statewide general election vote comes from Chicago.
The Illinois Republican Party’s high road on non-partisan elections is a road to nowhere. It’s playing by rules it created and ones that only the state GOP follows. And Republicans end up being played by the Dems.
Of the 50 Democratic ward committeemen in Chicago, 28 of them are currently serving on the City Council. Of the remaining 22 committee chairs, nine of them hold an elected office with the county or in the General Assembly.
Now what?
The Republican Party needs to start fighting, beginning with a brains-over-brawn approach. Think of Westley, Cary Elwes’ character in The Princess Bride. He outwits and outlasts and the much larger -- and presumably deadly — Fezzik, played by Andre the Giant, eventually prevailing by applying a sleeper hold on his opponent.
But what about the GOP's rules?
Drop them. Those “rules” aren’t working.
Here’s another example from the world of cinema. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Paul Newman’s Cassidy character is challenged to a fight over control of his gang by the much taller Harvey Logan, who was portrayed by the menacing Ted Cassidy, best known for his role as Lurch the butler in the Addams Family television series.
Here is the key part for the Illinois Republican Party to remember: Butch asks Logan about the rules for their knife duel. Logan replies, “Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!”
Butch then kicks Logan in the groin and wins the fight.
The Democrats’ rules
For many years, Democrats who control Chicago and most of Illinois have treated whatever rules there are in politics as at best optional. Their recurring indiscretions include extensive public corruption — yes, a few Republicans have also been convicted of crimes in office — egregious gerrymandering, anointing sons or daughters as successors in office, and most recently, candidates running for two elected offices at the same time.
Those are the groin kicks from the Democrats, the party of “No Kings.”
The state, county, and even the feistier Chicago GOP infrequently call Democrats out on these insults to democracy. Meanwhile, several times a day on social media, Governor JB Pritzker, or most likely, his acidic social media geeks, attack the Illinois GOP and its gubernatorial candidate, Darren Bailey, several times a day.
Fighting back
It’s time to fight back, Republicans. First on social media — voters admire fighters — and then by getting more involved in Chicago elections.
At that previously mentioned meeting, I noted President Donald Trump showed real strength in parts of Chicago: He won the 41st Ward and carried numerous precincts across the city, including some in the 11th (the Daley family’s ward), the 13th (Michael Madigan’s old ward), the 19th, the 23rd, the 38th, and the 50th. I said at the time that the GOP should recruit candidates in those wards where the sitting alderman does not vote conservatively. I received a non-committal answer.
For certain, especially in blue states, transferring any support from Trump to other candidates is dicey. And if a GOP-endorsed candidate loses badly, it’s a bad look for the party. And I’d hate to take an idea from the DSA Democrats, but they started off with small vote totals years ago — but persisted — and they are now a force within the Democratic Party. Some would say they are the current Democratic Party.
Beachheads
The Chicago wards mentioned earlier are ideal beachheads for a resurgent Republican Party in Chicago. And not just for City Council, as there are districts covering the same areas in the Illinois General Assembly.
Legislative seats are the farm clubs for successful political parties.
No one is demanding — or even expecting a GOP takeover of Chicago. But for statewide success, it’s not necessary.
It was a long time ago, but most people reading this article were alive in 1994 when Republican Governor Jim Edgar won reelection after taking 37 percent of the Chicago vote — while speaking with a squeaky downstate twang much like the one used by Darren Bailey.
Bailey won only 15 percent of the Chicago vote in 2022.
Statewide Republican candidates who capture 30 percent of the Chicago vote are going to win some races, instead of the usual nice-guy last place finish.
And having some Republicans — or independents on the City Council who support conservative causes, especially in financial matters, will lead to a better Chicago.
As was mentioned earlier, voters respect fighters. Harry Truman’s upset win over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential race has been analyzed for decades. One of the reasons Truman overcame Dewey has been attributed to his “Give ‘em Hell” campaign slogan. Dewey did the opposite.
GOP, it’s time to fight, even if it’s done indirectly. And forget your “rules.”
Chicago is where the new fight can begin. The beachheads are there.
And if you are a conservative Chicagoan fed up with the status quo, you don’t have to wait for the official Republican Party to make your own move. Because you might be waiting a very long time.
