Illinois delegation chair Rep. Mary Miller, 15th District, during the Illinois Republican Party Delegation Breakfast, in Oak Hill, Wi at the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. MILWAUKEE — Illinois delegates to the Republican National Convention on Monday said former President Donald Trump’s choice of U.S. Sen. J.D.
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. 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.
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. 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 Kamala Harris border crisis.”
Illinois GOP holds the Illinois Republican Party Delegation Breakfast, in Oak Hill, Wisconsin at the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. “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 don’t have a clue. They don’t know whether their existing candidate is going to get there.”
US Rep Mike Bost, 12th district, speaks at the Illinois Republican Party Delegation Breakfast, in Oak Hill, Wisconsin at the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024.