Chicago GOP blackballs Candidates From Running For Offices In City
Fred Frobisher asked on the Illinois GOP FaceBook page why there was NOT a Republican Party candidate for Chicago Mayor:
"The Chicago Republican Party (the committeemen) made a conscious decision after much discussion back in the summer of 2022 that we would not be having an official Republican candidate in the 2023 race for multiple reasons: A. Nonpartisan race in a very Democratic town (8:1 Democrats) B. Didn't have $100,000 (minimum) to get between 40,000 to 50,000 signatures to get on AND stay on the ballot. C. Didn't have guaranteed donors for the minimum $2 million necessary to (maybe) get into the April runoff and the additional $3-5 million to compete in the runoff, should the candidate get beyond the General Election in February - donor & volunteer base is too small at the moment. D. We approached a Chicago Republican who would have had strong name recognition right out of the box; respect; the capabilities and financial backing who declined our request - not interested in the least. E. We have very small staff (1.5) currently and they were consumed in September, October & November with the 45+ GOP candidates in Chicago that we did manage to get on the ballot, offering more candidates in Chicago & Cook County than in at least a generation. F. Would not able to secure enough aldermanic candidates (minimum 15-20) to align with GOP Mayoral who would also push votes from the Ward level. G. Did not have any prospective candidates step up to run on a slate with GOP Mayoral candidate for Treasurer or Clerk. At this point, the current Chicago Republican leadership & committeemen elected in April of 2020 (beginning of the pandemic) or appointed since then is planning to have a much improved infrastructure and more functioning Ward organizations in 2027, as we move forward in the city over the next three election cycles (2023, 2024 & 2026)."
In other words the Chicago GOP Chairman Steve Boulton and his cronies are too weak and can't hack their positions.
Rauner won Chicago for Governor in 2014. A Republican can win no problem. It's called strategy and hard work!