MILWAUKEE — U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was taunting an old Capitol Hill nemesis on the crowded floor of the Republican National Convention when an Illinois Republican Party official with a low profile outside of state GOP circles stepped in.
“Shut up, don’t be an a–hole,” Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter said to Gaetz, who was interrupting an interview being given by the man he helped oust as House speaker, former California U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
“Dude, I don’t even know who you are, man,” the boisterous congressman said to Porter, who quickly responded, “It doesn’t f—ing matter who I am. Don’t be an a–hole,” before Gaetz walked away.
Video of Tuesday night’s confrontation has since gotten more than a half a million views on the social media platform X, at least temporarily raising Porter’s profile — one online commentator flippantly calling for him to be the next House speaker.
EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Matt Gaetz interrupts Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s interview on the floor of the RNC. Gaetz had to be physically held back by security and said “You’d get boo’ed off the stage if you were to speak” pic.twitter.com/unuY7kMib5
— Armstrong Williams
(@Arightside) July 16, 2024
That’s not likely to happen, but Porter may have designs on public office in Illinois. During this week’s convention, Porter has been among a handful of names floated by some Illinois top Republicans as possible GOP candidates for governor in 2026 as the state party looks to reinvent itself with new leadership after years of losing ground to Democrats.
It won’t be easy for Republicans and they know it. Democrats control all three branches of state government. On the federal level, just three of the state’s 17 congressmen are Republican, and both U.S. senators are Democrats.
But reflecting the rah-rah atmosphere of a national political convention, newly elected state Republican Chair Kathy Salvi said, “The Illinois Republican Party apparatus will be out to win in the general election in 2026.”
Illinois delegates and other in Milwaukee agreed that a viable GOP candidate for governor needs to figure out how to unify moderate Republicans from the Chicago area and with increasingly conservative counterparts in rural parts of the state. The party’s struggles have coincided with the ascension of former President Donald Trump, who lost in Illinois twice by 17 percentage points as traditional GOP strongholds in suburban areas of the state turned blue.
Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, of Savanna, said fielding a successful GOP candidate for governor could depend on the state party’s success in the November election in various legislative races. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, including a 78-40 advantage in the House, where McCombie serves as minority leader.
“We need to have somebody who has a vision, who’s willing to be smart and willing to put forward a plan to talk about taking our assets that we have and building on those to build a better economy for Illinoisans,” McCombie said.
Illinois Republicans also can be expected to field a U.S. Senate candidate in 2026 for a seat that could be open if longtime Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is 79, decides not to run for reelection. Durbin has not yet announced his plans.
Porter, a retired partner with the Kirkland & Ellis law firm who worked in the White House under former President George H.W. Bush, said a Republican candidate will need a strong personality and cash to compete against a Democrat in the race for governor.
“I think authenticity is very important in this day and age. I think the ability to raise money, to build and connect with people on things they’re concerned about,” he said in an interview during the Illinois GOP delegation’s breakfast on Wednesday.
Porter said he thought about running for governor two years ago with a focus on fiscal policy — he said the state relied too much on billions of dollars in federal pandemic relief money. He said he’s looking at a 2026 run, depending on how the field of candidates shapes up.
If Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker runs for a third term, Porter said a Republican candidate will have to communicate to voters that Pritzker is “pushing ideas that I think really have no place in Illinois.”
“Instead of looking to serve people and help them achieve their dreams, he’s trying to tell people how they ought to be better,” Porter said. “The whole focus on anti-policing as opposed to law and order, I mean I just think there’s a whole series of things that they do that have no connection to reality.”
Porter supports the Trump ticket, but his brief dustup with Gaetz might not play well with the more hard-core elements of the state’s GOP base who admire confrontational tactics of the sort employed by the Florida congressman.
Porter said Gaetz’s “behavior was completely inappropriate.”
“That’s part of what he does. It was for show. It was obnoxious. It was not consistent with what we’re here for,” Porter said. “I’m sure the people in his district can do better than he is.”
Others mentioned as potential Republican candidates for governor included U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria, former state Sen. Darren Bailey, who lost by more than 12 percentage points to Pritzker in the 2022 race, and Aaron Del Mar, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor that year.
Del Mar, formerly both a Palatine Village Council member and Cook County Republican Party chair, confirmed on Wednesday he’s thinking about a possible run for governor. He said GOP candidates for the office must have the ability to work across the aisle in a state that figures to be largely controlled by Democrats for some time.
“We need people that are strong conservatives that are going to have good public policy, that are going to understand that the nuances that you need to have a successful Chicago aren’t the same nuances that you’re going to need to have a successful Peoria,” he said.
LaHood, a member of Congress since 2015, said he was “honored” that his name would be mentioned as a possible contender for governor but that he’s focused on getting Trump elected in November, as well as keeping Republicans in the majority in the U.S. House.
He said the landscape for the 2026 governor’s race could depend on different factors, including Pritzker’s call on running for a third term.
“I think we have to put the best candidate forward, somebody that can bridge the ideological divide in the state of Illinois, someone that can win the Chicago suburbs,” LaHood said. “I think we have a real opportunity to do that and so, that needs to be our focus.”
Earlier this week, Bailey, who was narrowly defeated in the March Republican primary by incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost in a hotly contested downstate congressional race, said he has no plans to make another run for office but didn’t close the door on that possibility.
“I’m not going to walk away,” Bailey said. “We just got back from a 10-day camping trip with four of our grandchildren, went to the Dakotas and enjoying life back on the farm. So, I’m going to enjoy that moment, try to get President Trump elected and we’ll just see what the future brings.”
