I don’t know why I asked my mother that while I was standing next to the washing machine in 1948?

But it was my second political memory.

(My first was seeing my mother cry when FDR died. I was not yet three at the time.)

What brings that to mind?

An article in the revamped Illlinois Review entitled, “IL GOP Chair Don Tracy’s Family-Owned Business Donated to Biden, ‘Never Trumpers.‘”

It notes Tracy ran for the State Senate as a Democrat in 2002, in addition to telling of the campaign contributions to Democrats.

Jill Tracy of the same family was elected Republican State Representative in 2004 and now serves in the State Senate.

My father and mother were register Democrats in 1948. Dad was thirty-two.

Harry Truman was running against Robert Taft.

Four years later, Dad changed his Maryland registration to the Republican Party so he could vote for Dwight D. Eisenhower. My mother, whose father was a Democratic Party Queen Anne’s County Commissioner (the swing vote of the three Democrats) did not switch until 1954.

The point of this post is that adults do change their minds about party affiliation.

Former Daily News reporter, Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Editorial Board member and, finally, onservatice Tribune columnist back when the Tribune allowed such, recounts his conversation by pointing out that the JFK Democratic Party of his youth left him, not vice versa.

So, make what you will of Illlinois State Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy’s political background, but grant that people can change their minds as circumstances change.

Jil Tracy, Don’s sister-in-law, took office as a Republican State Representative in 2006 and subsequently was elected State Senator. They practiced law together in Mt. Sterling.