MILWAUKEE — Illinois Republicans heartily welcomed Donald Trump’s selection of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate Monday, capping the first day of the Republican National Convention that featured prayers and chants from a state delegation that says it’s finding unity behind the momentum of the former president’s campaign.
Thousands of delegates were graced by the presidential ticket in the waning hours of the convention on Monday — Trump appearing with a bandage on his right ear in his first public appearance since Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally.
He mouthed the words “Thank you,” to delegates and pumped his fist, while delegates chanted “Fight, Fight, Fight!” He sat with Vance for the final hour of the night’s programming.
Earlier, Illinois delegates said they were happy with Trump’s VP selection. U.S. Rep. Mike Bost called Vance “a person who has worked up from nothing in life to understand how the American dream works.”
“He will be a great vice president. He will be able to take over on Day 1, unlike our current vice president,” said Bost, a Trump delegate for his 12th Congressional District. “I think it’s a great choice.”
Illinois state Sen. Terri Bryant, R- Murphysboro, said Trump’s pick can “bring in some of the young folks that we really want to target.”
“I’m excited about the fact that, ya know, four years from now, we wanna have someone positioned to be the 48th president of the United States,” said Bryant, an at-large delegate.
The running mate selection capped a day that included more good news for Trump: the dismissal of a criminal case that accused the former president of illegally keeping classified documents.
That news dropped in the middle of the Illinois delegation’s breakfast speaking program, when energized state GOP members, many clad in glitzy MAGA gear, rallied around Trump after he survived Saturday’s assassination attempt.
Illinois Republican National Committeewoman Demetra DeMonte thanked God for “sparing Donald Trump from almost certain death.”
“Surely you sent an angel to gently touch his face, to move it so ever slightly to avoid the fatal shot from the assassin’s bullet. This is just your most recent blessing of this man of ultimate courage and resilience, who was injured and prevailed over his enemies,” DeMonte said in an opening prayer.
Bost said voters “saw a strong leader go down and stand up with an attitude to fight to bring back what it is this nation is.”
Bost said they’d spend the week “talking about the policy, and talking about the issues. We’ll talk about the greatness of this person we’re running for president in Donald Trump, his experience and know-how in his fight. And then what we also do, is we stand united.”
Bost then singled out former GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey, whom he beat in a “tough” primary showdown in the southern Illinois congressional district.
“Let me tell you something: both I and that man right there, Darren Bailey, we’re gonna stand shoulder to shoulder and help elect Donald Trump,” Bost said.
Bailey later said, “We have a priority, and it is to get President Trump elected. Let’s come together. Let’s make that happen. And again, maybe by working together and doing some of that, we’ll learn enough from each other to be able to move forward and work together on other things.”
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, who said he was “the first person in the Midwest higher than a mayor to endorse” Trump in 2016, began a “Trump” chant among delegates.
“We need to put our energy behind each other and push Democrats back. That’s what we need to do in this state,” Cabello said.
U.S. Rep Mary Miller, a Republican from downstate Oakland, echoed that sense of intraparty camaraderie in contrast to months of squabbles between differing factions of a state GOP that has moved further right.
“It’s kind of like a family,” Miller said. “When you get a lot of personalities together, you have problems you need to work out, but bottom line, you’re a family and you stick together, and that’s what the Republican Party in Illinois is going to do. … We have an enemy, and it’s the people that want to fundamentally transform America.”
Illinois Republicans roundly celebrated the dismissal of the classified documents case, viewing it as a sign of the former president’s innocence — despite the federal judge not taking up the legality of the actions. The case was dismissed because U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional.
State Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said he was not surprised to hear about the classified documents case dismissal — and claimed, “This is all because they don’t like the president.”
“Republicans have said that this is, you know, they’re weaponizing the judicial system, and we’ve seen this, and we believe that this should be settled at the ballot box and not in the courtroom,” said Chesney, an at-large delegate.
