Democratic Party of Illinois Statement on the Anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection
One year ago, our state and our nation witnessed one of the darkest days in American history as a coup attempt unfolded at the U.S. Capitol. It is unquestionable that Donald Trump and Republicans incited the violent siege after working to sow doubt in the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, spurring extreme distrust in our elections among angry Trump supporters, and allegedly helping to coordinate the “Stop the Steal” rally that sparked the violent riot.
In the year since, Republicans, including Republicans here in Illinois, have repeatedly failed to denounce the insurrectionists and extremism in their own ranks:
- The day before the insurrection, Rep. Miller was caught speaking favorably of Hitler on the national mall
- Rep. Miller’s husband, a downstate member of the Illinois House of Representatives, was caught at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 after parking his pickup truck (featuring the logo of an extremist group) on Capitol grounds.
- Illinois Republican candidate for governor Gary Rabine sits as a board member of Turning Point USA, a “coalition partner” for the rally leading up to the January 6 riot. He then refused to debunk the big lie that the election was stolen.
- After showing a glimmer of backbone in voting for the January 6 commission, Rep. Rodney Davis “opt[ed] instead for blind partisanship and a lapdog pat on the head from House GOP leadership” by bailing as a member of the commission. He was then caught lying as he tried to blame Speaker Pelosi for the violence and bizarrely defended the January 6 rioters as “patriots” in a fundraising pitch.
- Illinois Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey was caught working with a January 6 insurrectionist in his election campaign. This comes after initially downplaying the role of Trump loyalists in the riot.
- Last month, Rep. Miller then called the bipartisan January 6 commission a “disgrace” and claimed it “hates Donald Trump.”
“Again and again, Illinois Republicans have demonstrated they just don’t care about what happened on January 6,” said Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Abby Witt. “They don’t care about the attack on our free and fair elections, they don’t care about the police officers who died or were injured on that day, and they don’t care about getting to the bottom of what really happened. What they do care about is demonstrating their undying loyalty to Donald Trump.”
“Every single Republican, and the Illinois Republican Party, needs to accept their party’s responsibility for what happened on January 6, reject the dangerous extremism of Donald Trump, and expel the insurrectionists in their own party. Anything short of that is empty talk.”
