DuPage Sheriff Mendrick First GOP Candidate for Governor in 2026
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick.
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DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick became the first Republican to announce plans to run for Governor in 2026, claiming in a radio interview and social media post he won’t run for re-election to his current gig and will instead seek the state’s most powerful office.
Mendrick was elected in 2018 and re-elected in an unopposed race in 2022 in the state’s second largest county, which has been trending toward Democrats in recent years.
If it appeared Mendrick’s announcement came out of the blue, sources tell The Illinoize he has been speaking about his interest in running for Governor with supporters for weeks, if not months.
But his rollout was considered less than a success by many political insiders. Mendrick showed up out of the blue yesterday on a right-wing radio show out and made a post on his campaign Facebook page.
No press conference.
No website.
No branding.
No interviews (he didn’t return texts or calls from The Illinoize Thursday).
From as best as we can tell, no real campaign staff has been hired and there’s little infrastructure to launch his campaign.
When there’s already a thin field for the GOP nomination for Governor, where does Mendrick fit in?
“I wouldn’t take Mendrick seriously until he shows his campaign knows what they are doing,” said one GOP strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “[Yesterday’s] rollout was a disaster. How do you announce you are running for Governor without a press release, website, or other basic campaign infrastructure?”
The criticism of Mendrick’s rollout was repeated by many Republican operatives.
“If the quality of his rollout is indicative of the quality of campaign he will run, he may somehow find a way to decrease the quality of the GOP field, which I didn’t think was possible,” anther Republican operative said.
Mendrick has around $87,000 in his campaign fund as of the beginning of the year.
He could also run into headaches in a primary campaign, having made comments in support of both DEI and Black Lives Matter protests.
Former GOP Lieutenant Governor candidate Aaron Del Mar and former GOP National Committeeman Richard Porter have said they’re considering a run for governor next year.
