Illinois Republicans try to sidestep Trump factor at state fair while acknowledging strategy shift needed on abortion

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republicans spent their day at the Illinois State Fair on Thursday largely sidestepping the effect Donald Trump presidential nomination might have on efforts to rejuvenate the moribund political organization in a state controlled by Democrats.

Party leaders also acknowledged that abortion rights, which motivated Democratic voters — particularly women in the once GOP-rich suburbs — and led to election successes last year, will remain a critical 2024 election-year issue that they will have to try to counter.

“Why change a winning strategy?” Demetra DeMonte, the state’s Republican national committeewoman, said of Democrats during a breakfast meeting of GOP leaders. “We are the ones that must change. We Republicans must put Democrats on the defensive on abortion.”

Noting an “unending drumbeat”