In an inauspicious launch to his campaign for governor, conservative activist Ted Dabrowski left more questions than answers Friday as he acknowledged the skepticism that exists about the GOP’s future in deep-blue Illinois.
After delivering a campaign speech of just under nine minutes, Dabrowski immediately turned from a makeshift lectern and walked up the steps into his Wilmette home — refusing to take any questions from reporters. An aide said the nascent candidate had to attend to “previously scheduled radio” interviews.
That left unanswered several questions about the first-time candidate’s sometimes-controversial background and associations in his tenure as the former president of the Wirepoints conservative action organization and his previous work as senior vice president at the conservative-aligned Illinois Policy Institute.
And while Dabrowski introduced his newly minted running mate, emergency room Dr. Carrie Mendoza, neither he nor his campaign team made her available to answer questions about her background opposing transgender-affirming care procedures, in which she likened the “orthodoxy” behind them to sterilizations and mutations conducted in Nazi Germany.
Dabrowski did allow his mother, Blanca, to speak, and she said her son would “bring Illinois back into the glory of the ’60s” but did not elaborate.
“I am someone who has never been content about being right without making sure it’s done right,” Dabrowski said in explaining why he was seeking the nomination.
“While I’m not from the political system, I know the system. I know the players. I know how the sausage is made and why it tastes so bad,” he said. “And I know that if we don’t revitalize the Republican Party with strong executive leadership, we cannot resuscitate the state of Illinois.”
Dabrowski is seeking to become the GOP nominee and will be running in the Republican primary in March. He is not a familiar name to most people outside political circles, something Dabrowski alluded to in saying his candidacy was “built on coalitions of support that I’ve built over years of policy work across the state.”
But those coalitions largely include far-right organizations and representatives, including controversial Naperville-based Awake Illinois, which has fought LGBTQ+ initiatives in public schools and libraries and has pushed for the election of conservative school board members.
Dabrowski is a board member of New Trier Neighbors, which has opposed LGBTQ+ content at New Trier High School as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school.
At an Awake Illinois-sponsored workshop for local school board candidates in 2023, Dabrowski made the racially questionable statement, “There is educational equity in Decatur now because the white kids can’t read either.”
Attending Dabrowski’s announcement and describing herself as helping the campaign was Jeanne Ives, a former state representative from Wheaton and an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 2020 who also failed in a challenge for the 2018 GOP nomination for governor against Bruce Rauner.
During that campaign, Ives ran a TV commercial that featured actors in various dress mocking Rauner by thanking him for legislation involving abortion, as well as transgender and immigration rights.
Ives, a right-wing radio host, head of a conservative nonprofit and a member of the state GOP Central Committee, also is allied with Dan Proft of Naples, Florida, another right-wing radio host and political operative who has been an intermediary for millions of dollars in funding from national conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest to local candidates. It was unclear if Uihlein, who founded the Uline packing and supply firm, would weigh in on the race for the GOP nomination.
Dabrowski’s previous work at the Illinois Policy Institute coincided with the early years of Rauner’s single term as governor. The policy institute backed Rauner and supported his fight against public employee unions — a major factor that led to Illinois’ record two-year period without enacting a state budget.
While Dabrowski touted his policy and research background on property taxes, education funding and public employee pensions, his announcement speech was largely devoid of specifics as he said his vision for the state was “rooted in conservative reform principles.”
Saying he believed Illinois voters have “Pritzker fatigue,” a reference to third-term seeking Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, he said he was unafraid of the billionaire incumbent’s wealth.
“There’s not enough money in the world to paper over his years of nonexistent job growth, rising taxes and dismal student outcomes,” Dabrowski said.
“Look, I’m very aware of the skepticism about the Republican Party’s prospects and Illinois’ future. But we have a strong team, and we are and will be well funded,” he said.
Dabrowski has lent his campaign more than $250,000 and has raised more than $910,000 in large donations since he formed his campaign committee Aug. 28. That includes $100,000 from John Canning, founder and chair of Madison Dearborn Partners, $250,000 from James Perry, a managing director of the firm and $100,000 each from Alex Melvin, CEO of Rural King farm and home stores and transportation and leasing executive Vince Kolber.
Kolber is a twice-unsuccessful suburban congressional candidate who resigned as finance chair of the state GOP in June of last year after unsuccessfully seeking the post of state Republican National Committeeman. Two years earlier, Kolber earned the enmity of a crowd of grassroots Republicans attending a GOP State Central Committee meeting when he said, “I don’t know what the heck you’re doing here,” to some in attendance who had not donated to the party.
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick also has announced for the Republican nomination for governor and former state Sen. Darren Bailey, the unsuccessful 2022 GOP nominee for governor, is also supposed to enter the race later this month.