Kane County Reporter

Michelle Bettag has been appointed executive vice chair of the Kane County Republican Party, a role she says will let her strengthen the party’s grassroots operations and prepare for the 2026 elections.

Bettag, 55, of St. Charles, said her priorities include rebuilding local conservative strength, uniting the party’s grassroots and establishment factions, and supporting candidates she believes will bring expertise to the county board.

“Winning elections is my top priority, and we have some great candidates coming in 2026, improving the ground game through PCs and other volunteers, grassroots volunteers,” Bettag told the Kane County Reporter. “I'm a big grassroots gal and have a big network of grassroots, so I am trying to marry the two.”

The announcement of Bettag’s appointment was celebrated online.

“News from the front! Michelle Bettag has been appointed by Kane County Chairman Andro Lerario as Executive Vice Chairman of the Kane County Republicans,” Kane County Conservatives said on Facebook. “We heartily congratulate this hard working patriot and warrior!”

Bettag first entered politics as an organizer and later as an elected Republican precinct committeeman for Campton 9, a post for which she has filed for re-election.

She co-founded a citizen group known as The Warriors, which she described as “just a group of citizens that would get together and weren’t happy with things starting in 2022.”

“We are a Christian group of people who just love the Lord and love our country,” she said.

The group grew quickly. 

“Our organization grew pretty big,” Bettag said. “I mean, we've had a couple thousand people basically come through, probably a thousand active members. And we've done a lot just with attending board meetings, local Kane County politics, keeping the county board accountable.”

A former paralegal and longtime stay-at-home mother of five, Bettag said her family’s experiences and frustration with local government inspired her involvement.

“My husband and I have five kids, and we're busy raising them and trying to earn a living, like most citizens, so occupied with that that we’re not paying attention to what's going on,” she said. “Then you go to a county board meeting and realize this is a disaster. Our county is taking $29 million out of reserves this year because they're so over budget, and next year it's projected to be $31 million. They’re not going in the right direction.” 

Bettag said she is still learning the county-level political landscape.

“I’m trying to get familiar with everything going on behind the scenes,” Bettag said. “I’m a precinct committeeman, but I haven’t been in the inner circle of leadership as far as the GOP. So I’m trying to get on the ground, what’s the surroundings first.”

Her activism gained attention earlier this year when she helped lead opposition to a proposed $51 million annual retail tax in Kane County, which voters ultimately rejected.

“Attending these county board meetings, we were dumbfounded by the incompetence, the lack of reality. The budget has increased something like 80% in the last four years,” Bettag said in an interview with Illinois Policy. “When they proposed this new tax, it was not a small gap in the budget they wanted to patch. This was big bucks – $51 million a year, every year. We knew we had to step in and stop this because, one, that’s a big burden on the public, and two, those kinds of gaps aren’t solved by just taking in more money. You have to change your spending habits.”

Bettag credited the defeat of the tax measure to “a wide variety of talented people” in her movement. 

“We have doctors. We have lawyers. Bill Broderick here built us this great website,” she told Illinois Policy. “So, when we go before the board, it’s not just whining about paying too much in taxes: we have our research.”

The Kane County Board is currently composed of 17 Democrats and seven Republicans.

“The first Democrat-led board was in 2020,” Bettag said. “It's always been Republican.”

Since the Democrat majority took over, Bettag said county finances have increased significantly.

“The budget went from $80 million to $139 million, even after hundreds of millions given through COVID money that they had received in addition to regular revenue. So it's been a massive spending spree,” she said.

As executive vice chair, Bettag said she plans to apply a research-driven approach to her work in the GOP.

“I need to be a little diplomatic on the countywide scene now that I am, as grassroots I was very careful during the primaries not to support any Republican candidates we were backing, just because we didn't want to divide the group,” she said.

Still, Bettag said she’s realistic about divisions within both political parties. 

“I think the Democrats are split, the progressives versus the moderates,” she said. “I see the county board all the time. The Democrats are afraid to vote a certain way, especially when it's against the unions, because they want the progressives who are just yes men. That's definitely happening on the Democrat side. On our side, it's more the Republican establishment versus the conservative grassroots movement, the America First movement. There is definitely division between the two.”

Even so, Bettag emphasized her desire to build unity within the GOP.

“I'm hopeful that they can see, because a lot of things in the party are focused on raising money and certain other things, but I think strategy is lacking a little bit, and I just think that’s what I’m excited to focus on—the strategic ground game,” she said.

Her main priority lies in building a strong grassroots operation.

“I feel like I’m decent at raising money,” Bettag said. “I have a large network of people. But as far as the data and door-knocking ground game, that is what I’m most excited to work on.”

At her home in St. Charles, Bettag said political activity rarely stops.

“There’s always someone at my house because it’s like we’re kind of running the GOP from here,” she said. “They’re always picking signs up or somebody’s always here.”

Bettag said she hopes to channel that grassroots energy into supporting candidates she believes bring the expertise and experience the county board currently lacks.

“I’m excited about Ryan Deniz, who’s running in District 13, and Jennifer Abotacola in District 9,” she said. “They’re both highly qualified, professional people, and that’s what the board needs. Right now, it’s almost like a very emotionally led board of people without financial backgrounds.”