Tracy and his family members own Dot Foods based in Mt. Sterling, Ill.
Tracy becomes the first downstate GOP chair since Don "Doc" Adams in 1988.
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield attorney and businessman Don Tracy, the former head of the Illinois Gaming Board, was elected chairman of the Illinois Republican Party on Saturday.
Tracy, 70, will fill out the remaining two years of Tim Schneider’s four-year term. The 65-year-old Schneider of Bartlett had been chairman since 2014, taking over for Jack Dorgan.
Tracy beat out Mark Shaw, the Lake County Republican Party chairman and president of the Republican County Chairmen's Association of Illinois, and Kendall County Board Chairman Scott Gryder.