Politicians set to gather at State Fair this week, unofficially kicking off 2026 election season
Article Summary
- No Republican candidates have publicly announced they’re running for three statewide offices and just two have announced plans to run for governor as Gov. JB Pritzker seeks a third term.
- Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi says the One Big Beautiful Bill will be part of her party’s pitch to voters in 2026.
- Both political parties will unofficially begin the 2026 campaign with rallies at the State Fair in Springfield this week.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD (Capitol News Illinois) — With U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Comptroller Susana Mendoza and other members of Congress not seeking reelection in 2026, robust fields are growing in the Democratic primaries for the open seats.
Gov. JB Pritzker is seeking a rare third term and has been on the campaign trail for more than a month. Three high-profile Democrats are seeking to replace Durbin, sparking a flurry of state-level Democrats seeking to climb the political ladder.
But on the Republican side, it’s a ghost town in primary races for statewide offices so far.
“We’ve been decimated to the point in Illinois where we don’t have a strong bench,” former Republican State Rep. Mark Batinick, now a political consultant, told Capitol News Illinois.
At this week’s Illinois State Fair political days – long viewed as the unofficial start to election season in Illinois – the GOP’s focus will largely be on Washington in the absence of prominent state-level candidates, according to the state party chair.
“We have an opportunity in Illinois not only because Pritzker is such a trainwreck, but also because so many great things are happening with the leadership of this Republican president,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi said in an interview.
But winning statewide elections has been a daunting task for Illinois Republicans since President Donald Trump first entered the national political stage in 2016. Two years later, in 2018, a “blue wave” swept the nation in Trump’s first midterm election and Pritzker was elected governor. Since that year, Democrats seeking statewide offices have cruised to victory.
Thus far, just two lesser-known Republicans have expressed interest in challenging Pritzker in 2026. A similar group of lesser-known candidates is considering a U.S. Senate run, but there has been no news about anyone running for comptroller, treasurer or secretary of state.
It’s still early in the election cycle — the petition gathering period began last week and runs through October — and Salvi said she expects there will be a Republican candidate in November for each statewide office.
GOP’s 2026 message
The Illinois GOP isn’t going to shy away from Trump, Salvi said, even though the party often tried to ignore his influence under her predecessor, Don Tracy, who is considering a run for statewide office.
Salvi said embracing the One Big Beautiful Bill will be a key part of her party’s message in 2026 that she believes will resonate with voters. She encouraged voters to find common ground on areas they agree with Trump and ignore things they disagree with.
“Look at the success of this White House,” Salvi said. “Go to the White House website every week, or more than that, and learn what’s happening. And if there’s something you don’t like, then fine. Just don’t talk about that. Look to what you do like. Find what we have in common.”
That’s a welcome strategy for the Illinois Freedom Caucus, a group of the General Assembly’s most conservative lawmakers that has criticized the party for not embracing Trump in recent years.
Collin Moseley, the caucus’ state director, said in an interview they want the party to support Trump-aligned candidates, but the Illinois party still has too many leaders who disassociate with Trump.
“I think that it’s mostly being stifled by people who hate Donald Trump in our own party, people who are clinging with a death grip to hold our party further to the left instead of moving to the right to the issues that working families care about,” Moseley said. “We are stuck in this old-fashioned way of campaigning and the old Republican Party that mostly has lost its way.”
Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi speaks to the Illinois delegation to the 2024 Republican National Convention at a breakfast meeting at a suburban Milwaukee hotel alongside a cheese carving of President Donald Trump and the state of Illinois. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams
Salvi is also hoping to capitalize on Trump’s performance in Illinois in 2024, in which he cut down 17-point losses in 2016 and 2020 to about 11 points, largely due to a falloff in Democratic votes. Meanwhile, Republicans did not lose seats in Springfield despite Democrats targeting several vulnerable districts.
Pritzker beatable?
Pritzker is beatable, Batinick argued, citing the results of a poll released Thursday conducted by his polling firm and commissioned by the conservative Illinois Policy Institute where Batinick also works as a policy analyst. It found Pritzker’s favorability rating was at 47%.
The poll conducted last month of 752 likely 2026 Illinois voters found 60% of voters say “high taxes” is a top issue for them, while 26% named “state governance” as a top issue. Batinick said Pritzker appears set to run on his record of governing the state, but also frequently discusses national issues.
“The issues that matter to Illinoisans aren’t the issues that JB Pritzker is talking about right now,” he said.
The primary race to challenge Pritzker is still taking shape with DuPage County Sheriff Jim Mendrick the most notable name seeking the office so far. Lake Forest businessman Joseph Severino, who has run for Congress as a Republican and independent, has announced his intention to run for governor, but has not filed a fundraising committee with the State Board of Elections.
Batinick said that politicians seeking to “climb the political ladder” benefit from running for office, but the risk of losing their current elected position is keeping Republicans from stepping into a race where their odds of winning are low in a state that leans left.
“Everybody has to give up what they got to run for something that they don’t think they can win,” he said. “They’re looking at a Trump midterm; they’re looking at a lack of money; they’re looking a lack of excitement at the top of the ticket for governor and senator to date.”
Batinick thinks the right Republican candidate can beat Gov. JB Pritzker and overcome his spending power.
“A Republican candidate is going to have to work hard on the ground and we’re going to have to band together to really match the money that he can just buy,” Batinick said. “Republicans are going to have to do it with volunteers. It’s possible, you just need somebody that is inspiring to the public.”
Other offices
In the Senate race, four Republicans have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and are actively raising money.
Former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy is reportedly considering running for either governor or Senate and is expected to make an announcement soon. Ted Dabrowski, the president of conservative research site Wirepoints, is also considering running for governor.
Former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy speaks at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair in 2023. Tracy stepped down from the job in 2024. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
Bob Fioretti, who has unsuccessfully run for several offices as a member of both parties, is reportedly circulating petitions to run for attorney general.
But even as petition-gathering begins, no other candidates are publicly known to be interested in running for other statewide offices. Notable names, including U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood and former Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter have declined to run for governor or Senate.
Candidate recruitment isn’t the state party’s role but rather turning out voters, said Salvi, an attorney from Mundelein who was the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Democrats’ national focus
While Republicans head into the State Fair still in search of people to run for statewide office, Democrats have two primary elections for statewide offices and three crowded primaries for congressional seats in the Chicago area.
The primary for the open comptroller seat continues to expand. Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, announced on Monday she will run for the seat, joining Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, and Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim in the race as other Democrats also consider jumping in.
But even as some Democrats gear up to compete against each other, much of the party’s focus this summer has been on national politics, including currently hosting Democrats in the Texas House who left their state to prevent a vote on redrawing Texas’ congressional maps.
Read more: Texas Dems flee to Illinois to block redistricting vote
After the Illinois Democratic Party hosted Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin last week for one of several news conferences in the western suburbs with Texas Democrats, the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association will host U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies at their annual brunch on Wednesday in Springfield as part of State Fair festivities.
“Illinoisans face unprecedented harm from Donald Trump and Elon Musk and I cannot think of a better national leader right now to talk to our party about how to meet this moment,” association President Mark Guethle said in a statement.
Pritzker, who has put himself at the center of Texas’ redistricting fight, will also hold the governor’s traditional event at the State Fair on Wednesday afternoon. Pritzker has continued trying to grow his national profile this summer amid speculation he plans to run for president in 2028, including with an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show on CBS last week.
The Republicans will host FOX News analyst Gianno Caldwell as their keynote speaker at the fair on Thursday.
By Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois
bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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