A Grand Old Feud is shaping up in the battle for the newly drawn Illinois 15th Congressional District.
This past weekend, current 15th District U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Oakland) announced that she will run for the House in the re-drawn 15th Congressional District, to challenge incumbent GOP Rep. Rodney Davis (of the 13th District) with the backing of the most prominent Republican in the country — former President Donald Trump.
Miller, from Effingham County in southern Illinois, was first elected to Congress in November 2020 and is a member of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, pledging to run her campaign as a staunch ally of Trump and his agenda. Davis, from Taylorville in central Illinois, was first elected in 2012 and his hometown of was gerrymandered out of his own 14-county district, forcing him to run this year in a sprawling, reconfigured 35-county district.
The 15th District now includes Mercer, Warren, and Henderson counties, stretches around Champaign, Springfield, Bloomington-Normal, goes to the Indiana border, and south back down to the St. Louis area.
Last month, controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia encouraged Trump to support Miller’s campaign, despite pleas from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for the former president to stay out of the race, according to CNN.
“I am blessed to start out 2022 by receiving President Donald Trump’s endorsement for my re-election in IL-15,” she tweeted on Saturday. “I promise to always be a fighter for the America First Agenda. This will be the year we take our country back.”
In a statement, the former president lauded Miller for her support of his agenda.
“Congresswoman Mary Miller is doing a fantastic job representing the people of Illinois! Strong on Election Security, the Second Amendment, and our Military and Vets, Mary is a champion of our America First agenda. She fights hard against Joe Biden’s open borders, runaway inflation, and the radical indoctrination of our children,” he said. “Mary has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
In the aftermath of the 2020 Census, Illinois lost a congressional seat — and with Democrats in control of the Governor’s Mansion and the state legislature — lawmakers chose to divide Miller’s district between neighboring districts in the redistricting process, according to
Davis campaign spokesman Aaron DeGroot took strong issue with Miller’s designs on the re-drawn Congressional seat. “Mary Miller is only an outsider in the sense that she doesn’t live in the 15th District. She’s a carpetbagger and Chicagoland native,” DeGroot said, noting Davis is the only candidate who currently lives in the district. “Miller is so desperate to stay in Congress she’s running in a district she doesn’t live in, just like her husband. The Millers are taking a page out of the Springfield political insider playbook. Politics is their family business. “Even worse, Miller supports the Never Trump ticket for Illinois Governor and refused to vote against Nancy Pelosi’s sham, partisan 1/6 Select Committee,” he said of the Congressional panel investigating the violent insurrection at the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. “All Mary Miller has to show for her time in Congress is quoting Hitler and voting with Democrats like AOC and the far-left squad to defund our military and block a pay raise for our troops. That’s shameful,” DeGroot said. “It’s clear that Mary Miller is all talk, no action.” Just days after being sworn into office, Miller positively quoted Adolf Hitler in a prepared speech outside of the U.S. Capitol, saying Hitler “was right on one thing.” On Jan. 5, 2021, two days into her House term, Miller issued a speech to the conservative group Moms for America. She quoted Adolf Hitler, saying: “Each generation has the responsibility to teach and train the next generation. You know, if we win a few elections, we’re still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing: he said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.” “Rodney Davis is a conservative who gets things done,” DeGroot said. “He’s already been hard at work highlighting his conservative accomplishments and work with President Trump during his time in office. That’s why he’s earned support from countless grassroots Republican leaders in the district. Our campaign looks forward to educating voters on how Rodney is an effective conservative member of Congress and Mary is not.” Do members of Congress have to live in their district? Mary Miller lives in the 12th Congressional District, not the 15th District, though House members are not required to reside in the district they represent. Anyone can run for Congress as long as they are at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen at least seven years and live in the state they will represent. Miller has endorsed Darren Bailey for Illinois Governor, who has selected “Never Trumper” Stephanie Trussell as his running mate, and voted No on the FY22 defense budget, referred to as the NDAA, the Davis campaign noted. The NDAA funds the military and provides a pay raise for the troops. Also voting no were Democrat Reps. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and other members of the far left Democrat “Squad.” DeGroot described Davis as pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and “is a leading voice against Nancy Pelosi’s partisan 1/6 Select Committee and Congressional Democrats’ attempts to push a federal takeover of our election system.” Davis, 51, has been endorsed by 32 of the 35 Republican county chairmen in the 15th District, Congressmen Darin LaHood and Mike Bost, former Congressman John Shimkus, and over a dozen state lawmakers who represent the 15th District in the Illinois General Assembly. In 2020, Davis served as an Illinois Co-Chair of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. He opposed both attempts by Democrats in Congress to impeach President Trump and voted with Trump nearly 90% of the time when he was in office. This past Aug. 27, following withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Miller called for the impeachment of President Biden. “President Joe Biden has shown a reckless disregard for the safety and security of our troops stationed overseas and Americans here at home,” she said then. “Congress must act and begin immediate impeachment hearings to hold the President responsible for the decisions he made that cost service members their lives.” Prior to being elected to the U.S. House in 2012, Davis served as Projects Director for Congressman John Shimkus (who had represented the old 15th District) for 16 years. Miller, 62, won the 2020 election with 70% of the vote, becoming the first Republican woman elected to represent Illinois in Congress since Judy Biggert left office in 2013. Her bio notes she is a wife, mother, grandmother (seven kids and 17 grandchildren), and local farmer who serves as a voice for families and farmers ignored by D.C. insiders in the swamp. On the House Agriculture Committee, Miller worked with both parties to pass rural broadband legislation, fund vital crop insurance programs, and allow milk back into the school lunch program. She has also introduced legislation to stop the Biden EPA from infringing on farmers and ranchers with burdensome Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulations, her bio says. The 2022 primary will be held June 28.
