* Background is here if you need it. Naperville Sun…
After a spring election in which Democrats were victorious across the suburbs, DuPage County Republicans are launching a pilot program to encourage mail-in voting among their GOP base.
Set to begin in earnest until later this summer, party officials have high hopes the initiative will help the GOP regain strength in DuPage, a once Republican stronghold that has been shifting blue for years now.
“For numerous cycles now, strong DuPage County Republican candidates have been defeated by lesser Democratic candidates who have benefitted to an enormous degree from vote-by-mail (VBM) voting,” DuPage GOP Chairman Kevin Coyne, a former Naperville City Council member, said in a statement on social media earlier this month. […]
Through the pilot program, the local party will be encouraging Republican voters in select precincts across DuPage to sign up for the county’s permanent vote-by-mail program, Coyne said in a call.
A pilot program won’t make much difference in the short term. But financial and human resources could be playing a role in keeping it small.
* But even if they do go all-in, the Republican Party has a serious branding problem in DuPage. And as the last municipal election showed, it’s seeping into the groundwater.
We’ve watched this play out the other way in most of southern Illinois. The voting pattern change started at the top of the ticket and then went all the way down to the lowest municipal rungs, to the point where Democrats don’t even try anymore.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:12 pm:
If they put up someone normal to vote for they would be better off. I do not even think Pate Philip would be far enough right for them Certainly Lee Daniels, Jim Ryan, Jim Edgar are way too far left
- Homebody - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:17 pm:
Republicans don’t have a “branding” problem. They have a “being a Republican in 2025″ problem. How long can they expect voters to see the craziness happening at a national level, then look at a local level Republican saying “oh but that’s not me, for realsies” and expect people to believe them?
- Frida's Boss - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:25 pm:
It goes well beyond VBM for DuPage and all Collar County Republicans.
Ronald Reagan could not win a GOP Primary today. Not even sure the Bush family would be acceptable members of this GOP?
- 312Lawyer - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:27 pm:
DuPage is interesting because people are political more liberal but their lifestyle is uber conservative. Talking to people out there is like talking to a different species.
- ModerateGOP - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:45 pm:
A pilot program of GOP candidates speaking out against DJT might be more effective in a general election.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 2:47 pm:
Perhaps the DuPage GOP would be better served by launching a program to find candidates who actually appeal to DuPage voters.
- Pundent - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 3:53 pm:
You’re not going to win college educated suburban voters in 2025 when your governing philosophies harken to the 1950’s.
- Norseman - Thursday, Jun 12, 25 @ 4:01 pm:
IL MAGA GOP message to the base: