Former Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady joined Springfield's Morning News to discuss GOP infighting and chances of a Republican winning any statewide races in 2026.
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Pat Brady, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, who joins us this morning. Pat, good morning. How are you? Morning, Patrick, and I will tell you it's windy already. As you're on your way down to Springfield this morning, drive safely, my friend. Thank you. We're glad you pulled over so you're not, like, getting blown into a cornfield somewhere. No, no. So you saw my Tom DeVore story yesterday. We just talked about it in the last segment. I...

I understand that there are Republican beefs with conservatives who don't like that there are members of the legislature who even talk to a teacher's union or much less take money from them.

But in a situation where Republicans are walking into 2026, where they have almost no chance at this point to win the governor's race, almost no chance at this point to win the U.S. Senate race, almost no chance at this point to win any congressional races, almost no chance to get out of the super minority, what does Tom DeVore decide to do but turn the firing squad on his fellow party members? It's just, it's the most typical thing

backward thinking Republican politics as usual as we get from the side of the GOP.

Yeah, I will take just and we can talk about it another day. I do think there are opportunities for Republicans this cycle of the race of some of the races you mentioned, just because, you know, there's going to be a lot of movement with the Democrats. But, yeah, the thing is, with what he's doing, first of all, if I were sitting on the Democratic side and I was coming up with a strategy to make the Republicans even be in worse shape, this is exactly what I would do.

You want this infighting. You want the party people not getting along. You want people spending money and energy against themselves, not against Democrats. Point one. Point two, with DeVore, I think somebody's got to ask the question. Maybe, you know, how much is he getting paid for this?

Because these PACs, they set them up and they act like they're being do-gooders, but he's probably making a lot of money on it. So when he puts himself out there as the leader of the real conservatives, I always wonder, how much is he making on this? Well, there's no PAC and no money in it yet. So, I mean, it's got very profty feels to it.

Yeah. And that's what they do. These folks that hold themselves out to be the pure conservatives and the voice of Republicans, you got to look at how much money they're making. And if he does at some point set this pack up, I'm sure he's getting paid somehow. They may not list a salary, but they make money on mailers and other things. So these people that hold themselves out, like the guy you mentioned in DeVore, you

you know, they've got skin in the game. So I'm not sure if they really believe it. And if you literally look at it, like you just pointed out, it doesn't help Republicans. I mean, the fire should be aimed at the Democrats. You're obviously, you've had your beefs and battles with the super far right of the party that obviously had their frustrations with you while you were chairman. How can that bridge ever be

Can that bridge ever be repaired between the far right, super conservative Darren Bailey's and the moderates that the party has to have to win in places like the suburbs?

Yeah, it can be. We did it for years. Remember, we had 25 straight years of Republican governors with the same dynamic. Governor Edgar was pro-choice years ago, and he won Cook County, won huge swaths of vote that we seek to win now. So, yeah, it can be done. But everybody on either side, whether you're moderate or more conservative, got to recognize that the only way to win is to be unified. And you're going to like, you know, I know it's a

over-quoted Reagan line, but my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy. So this purity test that people like DeVore and Proft and the other people that make money on this put on candidates is it's super counterproductive, but absolutely can be done. Democrats have the same issue. It's just the other side of the ledger. So there's a, there's, I think there's a real opportunity for whatever party decides to start appealing to the, the, the 50% of the people that are in the middle.

It's interesting, though, because when you look at the way the Republican electorate has changed, especially in a primary, you know, Jim Edgar couldn't win a primary in today's Republican Party.

I mean, that is a foundational change from where we were not that long ago. I mean, Judy Bartopinco was the GOP nominee for governor 19 years ago, right? It's not that long. Mark Kirk was the nominee for U.S. Senate 15 years ago. These aren't... Yeah, 15 years ago. Yeah, 2010. So it's not like we're that far away, but it's also...

It hasn't been recent. I mean, Darren Bailey is the more most recent statewide candidate that we've had. And that's we saw how that worked out for Republicans. I mean, the whole the whole party in the whole party infrastructure doesn't seem to care about winning a statewide race. It seems to care about nominating who's the the most far right wing crackpot as possible in a primary.

Yeah, and I think the term infrastructure has probably less significance than it did when the party was winning with the candidates you mentioned, like a Judy Barr, Mark Herk or Jim Edgar. The infrastructure is not – it's probably half or less than half. I'd say probably 30 percent of what it was.

Back in those days, because up in the voter rich areas, the suburban cook, they had real organizations up there that turn vote out. Those don't exist anymore. So I think that's where you're getting down. Do you see the low number with six or six or seven hundred thousand people actually nominate?

Republican candidates statewide, there's just the infrastructure is not there anymore to support, you know, more moderate candidates. But I agree at some point you got to make a decision. Do you want to win or you just want to yell a lot? And believe me, it's a lot more fun to win than lose. Pat Brady, former Illinois Republican Party chairman, joins us here on 92.7 WMAY.

Do Republicans have any shot at winning the governor's race? I mean, we've seen that Jim Mendrick, the sheriff from DuPage County, has jumped in, who actually, when he was on this show last week, sounded more credible than I would have expected. Richard Porter's talking about getting in the race. Your friend Aaron Del Mar's talking about getting in the race. There was reporting this week from a right-wing sort of echo chamber that said,

Freedom Caucus guy, Blair Blaine Willauer, wants to potentially run for governor, which God help us all. But it just it just seems like Republicans don't have a top tier candidate for for this race at this point.

I think a lot of it depends, too, Patrick, on what Governor Pritzker does. The pill that the Republicans have to climb is he's been in office now eight years. He's had eight years of building quite an infrastructure and lover paid his policies. His people are effective and they're good and they win. So if he stays involved, still contributes money and lends his infrastructure to whomever he

the Democrats nominate, it's going to be an uphill climb for Republicans. But if they nominate, the Republicans nominate the right kind of candidate, somebody that has a broader appeal than say, Darren Bailey, he lost by what, 17 points? I mean, he got crushed. Yeah. I mean, there is a chance. I think another chance probably is the United States Senate seat if Dick Durbin doesn't run. Again, a lot of this depends on what Democrats do. If they nominate certain candidates, I think Republicans have a real shot

at winning and whether you agree or disagree with the Trump approach to thing on, on policy, you know, Trump ended up winning and doing better in Illinois than he had in the past. And I think if you nominate somebody pretty far left for Senate in Illinois, as a Democrat, I think that a good Republican well-funded and probably more center than right can win kind of like Mark Kirk and Judy Barwar, but that, that,

They have to get through the primer. Any idea who that could be?

I have talked to a couple of people that don't want me saying who I've talked to, but we'll talk about those names off the air then. Yeah, no, but there's some there are a lot of good people that are center right or more conservative in the state than I've traveled every inch of it as you have. This state is not a far left state. It's far left downtown in the city of Chicago. But the further you get away from Sears Tower, as I still call it,

the less liberal it gets in the state. You can elect a credible conservative, but they can't be too far, too far of the right. It just doesn't work. Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady, our guest here on 92.7 WMAY. Pat, have a safe trip down to Springfield. Appreciate you taking a few minutes and we'll talk to you again soon.