Illinois Republican Party
the state-level affiliate of the Republican Party in Illinois
The Illinois Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Illinois founded on May 29, 1856. It is run by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, which consists of 17 members, one representing each of the state's congressional districts. Once the dominant party in Illinois, the state GOP has become a minority party within the last few decades, holding little power in the state. The current chairman is Bob Grogan, who has served since 2026.
History
Before the 1990s
The Illinois Republican Party was organized at the Bloomington Convention in Major's Hall in Bloomington on May 29, 1856. Its founding members came from the former Whig Party in Illinois after its members joined with several powerful local political factions including, notably, the Independent Democrat movement of Chicago that helped elect James Hutchinson Woodworth Mayor in 1848. According to The Cook County Album of Genealogy, Francis Schweinfurth Sr., who had emigrated with his family from Germany, was a factor in creating the Illinois Republican Party. he was known as devout Lutheran and a businessman in Chicago. He fought as an officer in the Civil War on the Union side. As a first lieutenant, he was captured and held prisoner of war at Chickamauga.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Illinois Republican Party” is the state-level affiliate of the Republican Party in Illinois. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Illinois, Republican and Party, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3366683. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1856, 2026 and 1848.
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This entry incorporates text from “Illinois Republican Party” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.