Illinois GOP Asking Gubernatorial Candidates to Sign "Unity Pledge" to Support Nominee
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy speaks at Republican Day at the 2021 Illinois State Fair. Tracy has asked all GOP candidates for Governor to sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee, but so far, no candidates have signed the promise.
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Illinois Republican Chairman Don Tracy has asked all of the party’s gubernatorial candidates in the June 28 primary to sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee in the November election. But, so far, none have been willing to sign the pledge.
The GOP asked all of the campaigns to sign the pledge in early March and had asked for signatures to be submitted by early April.
Numerous candidates have had their conservative credentials questioned, including Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) pulling a Democratic ballot in the 2008 presidential primary or venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan interning for Democratic congressional candidate Colleen Callahan in 2006. But most of all, the powerful campaign of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin may hope to deflect criticism of his loyalty to the GOP or whether he’s “conservative enough” to represent the party, especially after taking Democratic ballots in five of the past six primary elections.
“This just stinks like the Irvin folks are using the state party to get cover,” one operative told me yesterday.
But the Illinois Republican Party denies the allegation. A spokesman said Chairman Tracy originally presented the idea to the state central committee last year as a way to keep the party on the same message in the truncated general election cycle. Asked if the Irvin campaign played any role in the pledge, the spokesman simply said “no.”
We’re told there has been some gamesmanship among gubernatorial campaigns and an “I’ll sign if he signs” sound to the deliberation, but the party remains hopeful it can get its candidates on the record in a show of unity before the June 28 primary.