MILWAUKEE — Illinois delegates to the Republican National Convention on Monday said former President Donald Trump’s choice of U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate provides another shot of adrenaline to an already energized campaign while also giving a boost to the GOP ticket in a key Midwestern state.
“He understands the Beltway, so he brings a lot of that knowledge with him. But he hasn’t been there for so long that he’s jaded,” Travis Akin, a convention delegate from downstate Illinois, said from the floor of Fiserv Forum following the announcement of Vance’s selection. “I think he will bring a lot of energy.”
Donald Johnson, a delegate and a pastor from Rock Island, used a biblical reference to express his enthusiasm for Vance — while also acknowledging the political element of the selection.
“He is to the president what Joshua was to Moses. So the thing is, as long as you’ve got a Joshua you’ve still got a Moses,” Johnson said. “Plus, we need Ohio.”
Trump announced his vice presidential pick on the first day of the four-day Republican gathering as he was also officially being nominated as the party’s candidate in November amid pledges of fealty from delegates.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s planned trip to Milwaukee, part of the Democrats’ orchestrated counterprogramming, was canceled after the weekend assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, which had led to calls from Republicans and Democrats to tone down political rhetoric in the midst of an overheated election season.
Still, the Democratic Governors Association, which is heavily supported by Pritzker, sent out a fundraising email warning of “the GOP’s extremist platform” adopted by delegates concerning further curbs on abortion, gay and voting rights.
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, issued a statement Monday morning saying she is “confident” in the security plan for the Republican convention, “which we have reviewed and strengthened.” The agency said it has implemented changes to Trump’s security detail since the attempt on his life “to ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign.”
The vice president selection dominated much of the afternoon discussion on the floor at the Fiserv Forum. Illinois’ delegation enthused over Vance’s working-class and military background, while also noting his age — 39 — amid a campaign that’s often been dominated by concerns over the advanced ages of the two men leading their party’s ticket. Trump is 78, while President Joe Biden is 81.
“I’m only 45 years old, so yes, I like to see young, fresh faces coming out there,” delegate Aaron Del Mar said of Vance. “He believes in the America First platform. He’s a social conservative. He’s a fiscal conservative. He’s a great complement to the ticket, and I think he’s going to do amazing things for our party.”
Outgoing Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy said Vance “should be good for the military vote, the working man’s vote, working women’s vote, the Midwest vote and the youth vote.”
State Sen. Andrew Chesney, a delegate from Freeport, said Vance could help Republicans pick up votes in swing states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.
Illinois delegates also said they saw in Vance a way to pass the torch on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” doctrine after the former president leaves the political stage.
“I think four years of mentorship under President Trump could very well set him up to be the president after that,” said Darren Bailey, a delegate and former Illinois state senator.
Vance’s loyalty to Trump had an impact in Illinois this year when he put a blanket hold on all of Biden’s U.S. attorney nominees to protest the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump, derailing the president’s appointment of April Perry to replace Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch.
During Monday’s roll call of states for Trump’s nomination, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, chair of the Illinois delegation, cast the state’s 64 delegate votes for the former president, citing frequent themes she has touted as a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, including opposition to transgender medical procedures for minors and trans athletes’ participation in sports.
Miller said she was casting the delegation’s votes “on behalf of parents who are horrified by Joe Biden’s attack on parental rights, on behalf of farmers who are being crushed by the Biden economy, on behalf of our daughters who Biden is forcing to compete against men in sports, and, on behalf of the victims of the (Vice President) Kamala Harris border crisis.”
Standing behind Miller was her husband, state Rep. Chris Miller, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus in the Illinois House.
Mary Miller cast the votes long after Trump had amassed the necessary 1,215 votes for the nomination, a procedure orchestrated so that Florida, Trump’s home state, would put the former president over the top in an announcement made by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
Illinois’ votes were cast after even some territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, delivered their votes, a reflection of the poor expectations national Republicans have for a state where Democrats have ironclad control and where Trump lost by 17 percentage points in both 2016 and 2020.
By the time Illinois was called in the roll call of the states, Trump had already secured 1,730 delegates.
Illinois’ Republican delegation started its week Monday morning with the first of a series of breakfasts at a hotel outside of Milwaukee, where speakers went over their reasons for believing Trump is better suited to run the country than Biden.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, the morning’s featured speaker, said the former president is “the right candidate at the right time” and alluded to the turmoil among Democrats after Biden’s disastrous debate showing last month, which led some of his political allies to urge him to step aside for another candidate.
“It is great to know that we as a party are united, and let me tell you that I want you to think about what is going to happen in a couple of weeks in Chicago. I know who our candidate’s going to be. How about you?” the five-term congressman said. “They (the Democrats) don’t have a clue. They don’t know whether their existing candidate is going to get there.”
Bost also noted that Bailey, his challenger in in the March GOP primary, was in the crowd. Bost, one of three Republicans in Illinois’ 17-member congressional delegation, defeated Bailey in a close race.
“We went through a primary season. Right? And it was tough. Right? But let me tell you something. Both I and that man right back there, Darren Bailey, we’re going to stand shoulder to shoulder in support,” Bost said to applause from the crowd and a thumbs-up from Bailey.
“This is our party,” Bost said. “We have the ideas and the principles and the anchor to make sure that we make this great nation great again and even greater than it ever has been under the leadership of Donald Trump. And we do that by standing side by side with each other.”
Miller told the breakfast audience that Republicans “are going to bring our great ideas and policies to conquer the Democrats’ policies that are terrible for Americans.”
“Americans want secure borders. We want a robust economy. We want parental rights and excellent schools. We support our police. We are 100% behind our great leader, Donald J. Trump,” she said.
Demetra DeMonte, the Republican national commiteewoman for Illinois, led the delegates in a prayer, saying that Trump “was sent (an) angel to gently touch his face to move it so ever slightly to avoid the fatal shot from the assassin’s bullet.”
State Rep. John Cabello, a delegate and a Republican from Machesney Park, a Rockford suburb, rallied the crowd with a chant of Trump’s name.
“If you’re happy with higher taxes, if you’re happy with the inflation rate going out of control, if you’re happy with all of the crap that’s being shoved down our (throats) in the state of Illinois,” then don’t support the Republican ticket, said Cabello, who co-chaired the Illinois GOP delegation at the convention in Cleveland in 2016 when Trump was first nominated to be president. “But if you are tired of it, we need you. We need your help, every single one of us must help each other.”
After the event, Bost praised a federal judge’s decision to toss a case against Trump over for his use of classified documents following his single term in office. The congressman used the occasion to proclaim the former president’s innocence even though the judge’s ruling was based on her finding that the appointment of a special counsel violated the Constitution.
“I believe that Donald Trump was president when he removed documents, which he has the power to decide whether those are classified or unclassified,” Bost said. “The powers of the president should not be infringed upon.”
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