Illinois GOP Elects Former DuPage Auditor Grogan as New Chairman
Then-DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan in 2014. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois Republican State Central Committee voted to oust state party Chair Kathy Salvi after a nearly two-year run Monday, replacing her with former DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan.
Sources say Grogan captured 61% of the weighted vote to Salvi’s 39%.
Grogan was DuPage County Auditor from 2008-2020, before losing the post by 75 votes in 2020. The race was contested for months in the courts. He lost a rematch in 2024 and had also run in the GOP primary for State Treasurer in 2014.
Grogan, who said he was unavailable for an interview Monday, issued a statement thanking Salvi and looking forward to November.
“I am honored and humbled to be elected as the next Chair of the Illinois Republican Party. I’m grateful to my good friend, Chair Salvi, for her dedication to the party and her work to build a brighter future for Illinois families,” Grogan said. “Illinois Republicans are united and I’m excited to get to work electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.”
Grogan is closely tied to a faction including right-wing radio host Dan Proft, former State Representative Jeanne Ives, and Ted Dabrowski, the former Illinois Policy Institute staffer who finished a distant second in the GOP primary for Governor in March. Grogan served as Treasurer on Dabrowski’s campaign.
Sources say Grogan was forced to commit to multiple members of the central committee that Proft and Ives would have no role in state party business under Grogan’s chairmanship.
Tensions remain between the faction and the camp of GOP nominee Darren Bailey, who issued a statement in support of Grogan Monday evening.
““We want to thank Kathy [Salvi] (the original news release misspelled her name) for her years of service to the Illinois Republican Party,” the statement read. “We also want to congratulate Bob Grogan on becoming the Chairman of the Illinois GOP. We look forward to working with Bob to win the support of Illinois voters and take back our state in November.”
Grogan inherits a GOP operation in flux, with a long string of internal fighting, fundraising challenges, and a string of electoral losses across the state.
We also learned after the vote that the GOP Executive Director Matt Janes plans to resign to move out of state.
