Prairie State Wire

Kathy Salvi was selected to become the Illinois Republican Party Chair last week, following the June announcement of Don Tracy's resignation. Salvi stated, "Illinois Republicans will stand and fight for our conservative ideals and set this state, and nation, back on the right track." Her statement was made in a July 12 Facebook post.

"It is an honor to be recognized by my fellow Illinois Republicans as the next Chair of the Illinois Republican Party," said Salvi, according to Facebook. "As we prepare to nominate the next President of the United States, Illinois stands as a testament to what Democrat governance can do: out of control cost of living, rampant crime, and rife with corruption. Illinois Republicans will stand and fight for our conservative ideals and set this state, and nation, back on the right track."

The Illinois Republican Party announced the election of Kathy Salvi as chair starting July 19, coinciding with the resignation of outgoing chairman Don Tracy. This information was detailed in a news release dated July 12.

Screenshot of Illinois Republican Party's July 12 Facebook post | Illinois Republican Party Facebook post

Tracy announced his resignation in late June through a letter that criticized state party leadership’s handling of an issue involving Vice Chair Mark Shaw, which led to Shaw's ouster from the state committee.

"For almost 3 1/2 years, I have had the honor of Chairing the Illinois Republican Party and enjoyment of working closely with the great majority of you to rebuild the Illinois Republican Party," Tracy wrote in his June 19 resignation notice. He added, "In that time, we have doubled State Party operational capabilities by better fundraising and building a bigger team through among other things activation of several new and old SCC Committees such as the Finance Committee and Election Integrity Committee. When I took on this full-time volunteer job in February 2021, I thought I would be spending most of my time fighting Democrats, helping elect Republicans, raising money to pay for more Party infrastructure, and advocating for Party unity. Unfortunately, however, I have had to spend far too much time dealing with intra-party power struggles and local intra-party animosities that continued after primaries and County Chair elections."

According to The Daily Herald, Salvi greeted delegates at the Republican National Convention. She was "expected to preach a message of unity for a state party that no longer has a statewide officeholder and is in the super minority in both chambers of the General Assembly." Salvi is an attorney from Mundelein.

Salvi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Loyola University at Chicago and a Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is an attorney at Salvi & Maher. In 2022, she ran to represent Illinois in the US Senate but lost to incumbent Tammy Duckworth. She received 1,701,055 votes according to Ballotpedia.