More Evidence of GOP's Suburban Woes
Results from a Cook County Board district last November shows the struggle Republicans face in the suburbs, which can be directly tied to former President Donald Trump and former GOP candidate for Governor Darren Bailey.
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OPINION
If we didn’t know it already, Republicans have big problems in the suburbs. Without a serious change in direction, they’re bound to keep losing up and down the ticket.
Republican pollster Matt Podgorski lost a race for Cook County Board last fall by around 700 votes. Democrats gerrymandered the district to flip from Republican to Democrat by creating a state of Florida shaped geometric adventure in mapmaking. It stretches from Palatine and Rolling Meadows in the far northwest suburbs, snakes around O’Hare into the far west and northwest sides of the city, south to Norridge, River Grove, and River Forest.
Podgorski shared some of his post-election analysis with The Illinoize. It shows Bruce Rauner won the mentioned CCB district by around 17 points in 2014. He lost it by 5 points in 2018. In 2022, Darren Bailey lost the district by 15 points.
It’s further proof how extreme Republican candidates Donald Trump and Darren Bailey have made the GOP brand toxic in the city and suburbs.
While Bailey lost the Cook County Board District in question by 15, GOP candidate for U.S. Senate Kathy Salvi also lost by 15, Republican Dan Brady lost the Secretary of State race by 14, and Republican Treasurer candidate Tom Demmer lost by 12 points.
Podgorski, meanwhile, running a more moderate, localized campaign, outperformed Bailey by 8 points.
Interestingly, the Cook County Board district in question touches at least four legislative districts that could be in play for Republicans. Instead, the GOP has a seemingly impossible task taking (or defending, in one case) suburban districts with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.
We’ve talked at length about the GOP Civil War in this state. Outsiders who like to call themselves the “grassroots” want to blame a traditionally inept party structure for failures at the ballot box. But many GOP leaders are quick to point out that it is primary voters who make the decision to nominate Bailey and Trump.
Until the GOP infrastructure can help push good candidates through primaries and Republican primary voters get the picture they need to nominate candidates who can win a general election, the GOP will keep taking steps back.
Who will figure it out first?