Downstate US Rep. Mary Miller, a critic of Chicago, coming to city to raise campaign funds
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The allure of Chicago green on St. Patrick’s Day is apparently enough for downstate Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller to overcome her fears of a city she has described as a “war zone.”
Miller — a second-term congresswoman from Oakland, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus and a disciple of former President Donald Trump who is backing him for another White House bid — has scheduled a March 17 fundraiser at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.
Miller is seeking contributions ranging from $250 for attending a reception to $2,900 for dinner and a photo at her late afternoon-early evening event, according to an invitation to the event. Checks are to be made payable to Miller’s “Victory Committee.”
Miller and her husband, state Rep. Chris Miller, have been controversial figures in state politics. Mary Miller faced criticism only days after taking office when during a speech in Washington she said that “Hitler was right” about political indoctrination of the youth for future success. She later apologized but blamed others for twisting her words.
That speech came a day before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol. Chris Miller attended the “Save America Rally,” where Trump spoke and helped instigate the deadly but unsuccessful attempt to overturn the Electoral Vote count that formally made Democrat Joe Biden president.
In a social media video, Chris Miller said Trump supporters were “engaged in a great cultural war to see which worldview will survive. Whether we will remain a free people under free market capitalism or whether they will put us under the tyranny of socialism and communism and dangerous Democrat terrorists.”
The Democrat-led Illinois House approved a resolution condemning Miller for standing with the insurrectionists but a legislative inspector general investigation concluded that his remarks did not constitute “conduct unbecoming a legislator.”
Chris Miller has been a co-sponsor of legislation calling for Chicago to be separated into its own state and has led separatist rallies in downstate communities.
Mary Miller, who was born and raised in Naperville, was endorsed by Trump last year in her primary victory against five-term Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville. At a rally near Quincy last year, she thanked Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who led to the court reversing Roe v. Wade and called it “a historic victory for white life.” Campaign aides said she misspoke and meant to say, “right to life.”
Miller has held fundraisers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. She’s also featured far-right U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado at fundraising events.
In a Twitter post in July 2021, she said, “Under Democratic leadership, Chicago has become a war zone with no relief in sight.” She followed up a month later with a tweet saying: “One of the first things people think of when they hear, ‘Illinois’ is CHICAGO CRIME. Our state (like other BLUE states!) has failed us.”
In March of last year, she posted the front page of a gun-rights publication that included a photo of her and Boebert outside the U.S. Capitol holding a sign that read, “The Second Amendment Caucus.”
She tweeted: “President Biden and the Democrats want to defund the police, take away your Second Amendment right to self-defense, and then watch as crime skyrockets in cities like Chicago. As a member of the #2A Caucus, I will always work to protect the right to keep and bear arms!”
Miller’s Victory Committee raised and spent nearly $243,000 in the midterm election cycle with almost half of its spending transferred to her main campaign account. She also transferred more than $52,000 to an allied political action committee she controls, the Faith in America PAC, and more than $30,000 to the House Freedom Fund, the PAC of the House Freedom Caucus.
Contributions from Miller’s Faith in America PAC included $2,900 to Boebert, $2,000 to Greene and $5,000 to the campaign of newly elected New York U.S. Rep. George Santos, who has faced criticism over falsehoods he has spread about his resume and background.
Miller’s Victory Committee also paid $15,740 to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in April of last year for event rental and catering for a fundraiser, the FEC records show.
