SPRINGFIELD â 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.
Tracy becomes the first chairman from downstate since Donald "Doc" Adams of Springfield. The former chairman of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission who also served on the State Board of Elections, Adams' tenure as GOP head lasted from 1973 to 1988.