MILWAUKEE — Illinois’ Republican delegation left the party’s presidential nomination convention expressing optimism that Donald Trump would regain the presidency in November and hope that some of the messages in his lengthy acceptance speech could win over voters in a state that overwhelmingly rejected the former president in the past two elections.
With Trump’s nomination official and the Democrats in turmoil over questions surrounding President Joe Biden’s ability to lead the ticket just a month ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the stage could be set for a different kind of election for the Republican nominee than those in 2016 and 2020.
While it’s almost certain that Republican support for Trump in Illinois won’t be enough to turn a blue state red, some delegates said his speech could resonate with Illinois voters regardless of whether they’re from deeply conservative downstate areas or the more moderate collar counties and boost down ballot GOP candidates.
Sporting a red MAGA cap, Illinois delegate Donald Johnson said he was confident Trump’s speech would win over voters, even though “he has said nothing new tonight.”
“The principles and policies he has work,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to turn it around. American people are suffering because of Democratic policies.”
State Rep. John Cabello, a delegate from Machesney Park who co-chaired Trump’s Illinois campaign in 2016, said the former president’s message of bringing down inflation and “doing the things that will put more money in your pocket” were among the talking points that need to continue being communicated to the electorate.
“There’s no denying that four years ago we had lower gas rates,” Cabello said. “No denying that the dictators around the world were behaving themselves.”
Springfield-area delegate Kent Gray said that while Republicans are likely to remain a decided minority in Illinois — Trump lost by 17 percentage points in each of the last two presidential elections — the former president’s emphasis on fiscal stability should still affect voters.
“We’ve got to stress the fact that we’re talking about lower taxes, we’re talking about decreased government regulation, we’re talking about economic policies that help everybody throughout the entire country,” Gray said. “This is a man who is ready to go. He’s got all the energy that we need to move forward. And it’s a great contrast, really, with the other candidate.”
Trump’s stated support for lowering taxes and for eliminating taxes on tipped wages “speaks to everyone,” said Aaron Del Mar of Palatine.
But what especially stood out to Del Mar during the week was a pro-worker speech delivered by Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Del Mar said O’Brien’s appearance at the Republican convention isn’t a good omen for Democrats, the party more commonly backed by labor unions.
“The Democrats right now are out there with their hair on fire because they know that we are challenging their base for one of the first times in history,” said Del Mar.
Other delegates said voters saw another side of Trump when he gave a detailed description of the July 13 assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania. Travis Akin, a downstate delegate, said he related especially well to that portion of the speech because of his own near-death experience in a 2020 car crash.
But it will be Trump’s message on other issues that most matter to voters that matter most, Akin said.
“Even Democrats understand the importance and the failed border policies. They understand the high prices of food and they understand the safety concerns in many of our communities,” he said.
Both parties have blamed each other for the political polarization plaguing the country. But state Sen. Terri Bryant, of Murphysboro, said she was hopeful Trump’s message of unity could resonate with voters in Illinois and the rest of the country. To that end, she said she’s spoken to Black Chicago residents — historically a reliably Democratic voting bloc — and elsewhere in the state who say they’re ready to vote for Trump.
“What we have to remember as Republicans is, this isn’t a one time. We want to make sure that those individuals know that they’re welcome in this party, that we want to give them wealth, prosperity, good schools, safe streets, and lay down your head at night and know that you’re going to wake up in the morning to a safe America,” Bryant said.
Susan Sweeney, a delegate from Park Ridge, also touched on the significance of Trump’s unity message.
“He said he wants to heal America and be a president for all. This isn’t just about Republicans and I feel he explained that well. He even told us to raise our expectations and it is so positive looking forward and encouraging to know that we can get past our division in society,” Sweeney said.
Chicago, often the target of Trump’s vitriol over the years, was largely spared of any negative rhetoric during the four-day convention.
But without identifying Chicago by name, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott indicated his policy of busing migrants who arrive from the southern border to cities such as Chicago would continue. His administration has sent more than 40,000 of the mostly Venezuelan migrants to Chicago since August 2022, a period in which the city has since spent about $400 million caring for the newcomers.
“We have continued busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the entire country. And those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border,” Abbott told delegates, many waving signs reading “Mass Deportation Now.”
After Trump’s speech in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum late Thursday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statement saying the former president “demonstrated once again his narcissism and dishonesty” while painting a grim picture of the future he sees if Trump returns to the White House.
“It’s an America where MAGA extremism rewards Trump’s wealthy friends and allows MAGA to attack fundamental American values and freedoms,” Pritzker said. “He is a man who remains wholly unfit for the office of the presidency, both in temperament and character. His attacks on the most vulnerable and on the middle class demand that we come together to defeat him in November.”
Pritzker’s statement also mentioned how Democrats have been the party to protect abortion rights, while another Trump administration “would further deny women access to abortion.”
Biden, who so far remains slated to face Trump on Nov. 5, was not mentioned in Pritzker’s statement, a tacit acknowledgement of the unsettled state of the Democratic presidential nomination.
Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson contributed.
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