UPDATED 1:24 p.m. 8/14/26
Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Sangamon County Democratic Party says one of its members who sent a woman running for Springfield City Council racially insensitive statements, among other comments, has resigned from the party.
In a Facebook post Thursday afternoon, party chair Diana Carlile — who just took over the party in April — said the man who was identified as a precinct committeeperson resigned the post before she could ask for his resignation.
That man — who Ward 8 candidate Teresa Tran said represented Precinct 15 — admitted to having interaction with Tran, according to Carlile. He’s identified in a screenshot of the text messages as Tom Beeve.
Beeve told Tran to drop out of the race. She would face incumbent Erin Conley in April, who also denounced the comments.
“‘If you don’t drop your race, I have legal ties, I got political ties and I will make sure we form a coalition against you to where you never run [for] a political position in your life,'” said Tran, to WAND-TV, recounting a call.
No reaction yet from Tran, who claims no one in the party has been in contact with her.
“As party chair, I want to reiterate, bullying, intimidation, and harassment on any level is unacceptable,” said Carlile, in the post.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We added the name of the man accused of making the comments to Tran after mistakenly omitting them from the story. The screenshot containing Mr. Beeve’s name is in the original story linked to above. We regret the omission.
