Trump hits downstate Illinois for rally to boost Rep. Mary Miller in showdown with Rep. Rodney Davis

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump headlines a rally near Quincy in central Illinois on June 25 to benefit freshman Rep. Mary Miller, locked in a Republican primary with Rep. Rodney Davis, with Miller’s campaign heavily centered on highlighting her allegiance to Trump.

Trump’s “Save America” rally will be at 7 p.m. on the Saturday before the June 28 Illinois primary at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Mendon. Trump’s team had been signaling for weeks Trump will hit Illinois for Miller as he seeks to solidify his hold on House Republicans by backing MAGA Republicans facing off in primaries with other GOP incumbents deemed less loyal.

Trump endorsed Miller in January, one of his earliest for the 2022 cycle.

An issue is whether state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, now the frontrunner in the GOP primary for governor, according to a Sun-Times/WBEZ poll, — and aligned with the GOP MAGA wing — can be successful in his quest for even a late-breaking Trump endorsement.

The 15th Congressional District, sweeping in portions of eastern and western central Illinois, is heavily Republican, and the winner of the June 28 primary will clinch the seat in November.

Trump’s embrace of Miller, from Oakland, came even as Davis, who lives in Taylorville, was the co-chair of Trump’s 2020 Illinois campaign.

The incumbent face-off has drawn millions of dollars of outside spending from national groups supporting or opposing Davis and Miller.

Davis drew Trump’s ire for proposing a bipartisan independent commission — modeled after the 9-11 commission Congress created — to probe the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol, where a mob was trying to prevent then Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden as the 2020 presidential winner.

That proposal failed to win GOP support in the House, so Democrats voted to create the Jan. 6 committee, which held its third hearing Thursday about Trump’s pressure on Pence to overturn the election.

Davis declined a seat on that panel and has been highly critical of the committee.

Miller said in a statement, “I’m honored President Trump is coming to the Quincy area to hold a rally after endorsing me over RINO Rodney Davis, who stabbed President Trump in the back by voting for the sham January 6th Commission. Downstate Illinois misses President Trump’s strong America First leadership, which delivered secure borders, a booming economy and energy independence. I am Illinois’ conservative, America First voice in Congress, unlike RINO Rodney Davis who supports red flag gun confiscation and amnesty for illegal immigrants.”

RINO stands for Republican In Name Only.

Davis said in a statement, “I’m proud of my conservative record of working with Trump when he was in office, and I won’t shy away from it.

“I’m focused on winning this campaign, firing Nancy Pelosi, and re-implementing the many policy successes we had when Trump was president, like building the wall, cutting taxes, and making America energy independent again.

“As the future Chairman of House Administration, I will also be focused on investigating the security failures leading up to January 6, finding out if Speaker Pelosi had a role in those failures and holding her sham Select Committee circus accountable.”