PEORIA, Ill. — Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered a rallying cry for Illinois Republicans Monday night at the Peoria Civic Center and promised “we’ve only just begun.”
The former Indiana Governor issued the remarks during a keynote speech to hundreds of top Illinois GOP donors and influencers at the annual Peoria-Tazewell County Lincoln Day Dinner.
During the speech, Pence asked attendees to “pray for all Americans” as he expects the country to go through a trying time between now and the Mid Term elections in November.
Also worth noting, not once during Pence’s speech was there reference made to the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack or the Congressional subcommittee investigating the events surrounding that day. There was also no mention of the 2020 Presidential Election result.
Pence spent the majority of the speech touting prior achievements from his time serving in the administration under then President Donald Trump.
Primary among those achievements, Pence discussed the Trump Administration’s success in leading the push for historic tax cuts, and establishing the new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
He also slammed the current messaging and policy from Democrats in D.C. joking that “sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the far left hand is doing”. On a more serious note, Pence insisted the Biden-Harris Administration has “unleashed a tidal wave” of far left policies which could “threaten to shake the very foundations of our country.”
Pence also offered rousing support for Central Illinois GOP Congressional candidate Esther Joy King and incumbent Congressman Darin LaHood, who also attended Monday’s event. Pence’s comments were met largely with loud applause and approval from the more than 600 people gathered at the indoor venue.
Pence encouraged all Illinois Republicans to look toward the examples set in California, where voters are turning away “far left” policies, politicians and even prosecutors. “If San Francisco can do it, Illinois can do it” exclaimed Pence.
In a response to Pence’s campaign swing through Illinois, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker’s campaign Facebook page issued a statement, calling Pence a “dangerous homophobic extremist”.
In the rebuke, Pritzker’s campaign blasted all Republicans for espousing regressive policies, “to take us backward and strip fundamental rights from millions of Americans”. Pritzker’s campaign says the Republican Party’s only goal is “to divide us”.
There was earlier concern Pence’s visit to Peoria might inspire public demonstrations by some Republicans in opposition to the former Vice President. Many Republican party members have pined over Pence’s refusal to vote and reject the 2020 Presidential Election results.
Prior to Pence’s address Monday, a small caravan of vehicles drove laps around the Civic Center, honking their car horns and displaying American flags, some pro-Trump imagery and decrying restrictive COVID-19 pandemic policy.
Another message scrawled on one of the vehicles read “fix 2020”, presumably referring to the aforementioned 2020 Presidential Election result.
Currently, the former Vice President is being cast as a central character in the events of January 6 and he’s become a focal point of harsh criticism from Trump himself, who continues to parrot false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud.
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