What's Next Chicago? 2024 & Beyond
Conservative values took a hit Tuesday evening (Election Night - April 4). But we in the Chicago GOP have seen rough election nights before, so they tend to roll off our backs like water off a duck. We get up the next day and start walking forward again.
I ask all to consider three points.
First, this narrow defeat unfortunately must rest with the Vallas Campaign. While the Chicago Republican Party did not endorse Paul Vallas, I know that many individually supported him and did their best. Some had reservations about the approach taken by the Campaign down the stretch. As one writer put it to me, "After February, the CTU played to win, while the Vallas Campaign played not to lose, thinking they had the lead." The election is over and what is done is done, but a lesson was learned. It is now time to look to the future.
Second, as I told the Chicago GOP Ward Committeemen in an email on April 4 before the polls closed, with the close of the 2022 and 2023 election cycles, building up the Republican Party in Chicago will once again go full force with our Ward Organizations and our regional GOP Clubs, pursuing efforts in multiple directions. I had many calls the day after the election from Republicans who are fired up and ready to work, as they see what I see.
Third, what I see is that this election result presents an opportunity for the Chicago Republican Party to step up to be the vocal opponent, in the press, the neighborhoods and the streets, to the radical policies and proposals that will be coming from Brandon Johnson and his CTU leadership overlords. Despite the pandemic, the work of the last three years has placed us into position to take that role, as the tools are here or soon coming.
The Chicago GOP will be looking to expand our volunteer base and convert conservative Democrats and moderates who have finally had enough, offering reasoned policies and good candidates in the 2024 General Assembly elections, the Cook County States Attorney election, the Chicago School Board elections, and of course, the Presidential election. It will be a great journey and I ask you all to come with us!
The future of the Chicago Republican Party would have been eclipsed by a Vallas victory, but with this result it is now our time to shine. 2024 is coming. Let's roll!
Steve Boulton
Chairman - Chicago Republican Party