When the Illinois General Assembly convenes for its 2021-22 session, there will be at least one new member of the “Four Tops” – the leaders of the four caucuses in their respective parties and chambers.

The winner of a post-election caucus vote to succeed Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), State Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) says one of his goals is to make Republicans “relevant” again by better marketing themselves to voters.

“If you aren’t happy with where things are in Springfield,” where Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers, plus all statewide offices, “then you need to come forward and look at Republicans,” McConchie said. “We have a lot of great ideas that we think will really help to turn the state around and really begin to educate them in a much more diligent way than we have done to date.”

In other words, where some see failure and ineffectiveness, McConchie sees opportunity.

He said the voters’ rejection of the proposed graduated income tax amendment is evidence that Illinoisans are ready for something different. “We need to tap into that voter angst – that voter reticence,” he said.

McConchie, who has served in the legislature for four years, has a compelling personal story. After a hit-and-run crash left him a paraplegic in 2007, he gets around the Capitol in a wheelchair, alone. He says it’s a motto he learned in the Army:

“Adapt and overcome.”