NW Illinois News

Jo Daviess County Republican Chairman Michael Dittmar longs for the day when party voters will become more practical.

“Why can't we support a moderate Republican that we agree with at 75 percent over a Democrat that we agree with at 0 percent?” Dittmar was quoted in the NW Illinois News in the wake of the GOP’s dismal state showing in this month’s general election.  “I think the lesson learned is that we as a state party need to end this ‘civil war’ between the conservative wing and the practical wing.”

Dittmar said he was particularly hurt to see Erika Harold go down in her race for Illinois attorney general.

“Erika Harold was one of the best candidates we have and she came up short,” he is quoted in the paper. “That one hurt.”

Overall, Dittmar said he’s convinced that Republicans need a full-blown marketing plan that only a clear, unifying message can fix.

“As I said before, the Illinois GOP needs a KIS marketing principle: "keep it simple," he said.

Dittmar said his platform of simple issues he’s convinced will resonate with voters include stabilizing pensions, funding schools equally, imposing terms limits and ending gerrymandering, and putting forth a balanced budget with as low as taxes possible.

“We need to work together to win elections, not beat the crap out of each other in primaries and split the party,” Dittmar added. “I heard a candidate at one of the Lincoln Day Dinners say, ‘We are going to Mark Kirk and Gov. (Bruce) Rauner.' How did that work out for us? We now have Tammy Duckworth and J.B. Pritzker. We have to stop saying that it has to be our way or no way.”

Pritzker was elected to replace Rauner, and Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Hoffman Estates, has been named to Pritzker's transition committee focusing on veterans issues.