By Illinois Review
On Monday evening, during a tele-town hall meeting, embattled Illinois House Republican Minority Leader Tony McCombie called Illinois Review “fake news,” one day after the conservative, pro-Trump news publication exposed her support for legislation that expanded health care coverage for transgender and non-binary patients in Illinois.
Over the last 24 hours, McCombie’s messaging strategy has been all over the map. On Sunday evening, she avoided answering constituent questions on her Facebook page about her vote – simply saying that only females can get a pap smear. “Hard stop!”
But on Monday morning, as former Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey pointed out in a Facebook post – her office staff were answering phone calls “claiming such a VOTE never took place and are unaware of their Representative’s support of such legislation.” Bailey then accompanied the post with a copy of the official vote that showed McCombie siding with Democrats and voting “yes.”
By Monday evening during her tele-town hall, she switched up her talking points and was sticking to the line of defense that the legislation was about cancer screenings and preventative care. But the reality is that the bill expands insurance coverage for transgender and non-binary patients – and it’s why 99 percent of the House Republican Caucus voted against it. It also explains why McCombie accepted $47,500 from the Illinois Health and Hospital Association PAC – a far-left, progressive group that’s been advocating for improved care for transgender and non-binary patients around the same time she voted for the bill.
As it’s clearly stated in official government records, House Bill 2350 amends the Illinois Insurance Code and requires coverage to include an “annual cervical smear or Pap smear test for all (rather than female) insureds.” The legislation also requires coverage to include an “annual prostate cancer screening for insureds (rather than male insureds) upon the recommendation of a physician licensed to practice medicine…”
But calling this publication “fake news” is a line often used by the anti-Trump wing of the Illinois Republican Party. Disgraced former IL GOP chairman Don Tracy referred to this publication as “fake news” after it was revealed that his family business – where he is an owner, donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020 when he was running against President Donald Trump. And Tracy’s close friend and advisor – former Chicago GOP chairman Stephen Boulton, also used the word “fake news” after this news outlet exposed his 2016 Facebook post where he compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Both Tracy and Boulton resigned after being outnumbered by conservative, pro-Trump grassroots activists who follow this publication.
And Jeanne Ives – who was once considered a conservative, grassroots activist, is fond of attacking Illinois Review – saying this publication is “full of lies” and “garbage” after it was revealed that she supported Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary over Trump – and denying that she endorsed DeSantis despite a tweet from her organization saying that she supported the Florida governor over former President Donald Trump. In September of 2023, Ives even attacked an event featuring Donald Trump Jr., falsely claiming that the event couldn’t sell tickets after an IR exclusive was published promoting the historic visit.
Ives’ Sunday night radio show on AM 560 The Answer has ratings that mirror CNN, and engagement on her social media pages has plummeted – forcing the radio host to pay for likes and shares to make it appear as if her posts are more popular than they really are.
Illinois Review remains the largest, conservative, pro-Trump news organization in the state. IR is also the only publication in Illinois to have been shared by President Donald Trump on his personal Truth Social account – proving that the 45th and 47th President of the United States and his team read IR’s stories.
This publication continues to wait and see if state GOP officials, including national committeemen, comment on this issue that only seems to be getting worse for the Republican leader.
