Last month, we took a look at Mary Miller, the reactionary QAnon congresswoman from Illinois who everyone forgets about. Except Marjorie Traitor Greene and whomever else tells Señor Trumpanzee who to endorse didn't forget about her. And today she was bestowed with one of Trump's idiotically predicatble one-size-fits-all endorsements. Score one for Gang-Greene!
After redistricting, Miller found herself in a tight uphill primary race against mainstream conservative-- and much better-known-- Rodney Davis. A Hitler-quoting anti-Semite, Miller has to run in a district (IL-15) that was mostly Davis' and where she doesn't live and is mostly a stranger to the voters. now that she has Trump's endorsement, the calculus could well change. The Illinois and congressional leadership would all have preferred Trump stay out of it. But Trump spurns their advice and gave her the endorsement, possibly enough to win over GOP primary voters in the solidly red district. CNN reported today that in a statement Illinois' only QAnon member said that Trump inspired her to run in 2020 "because our country needs principled conservatives in Congress who always put America First. Today, President Trump is endorsing me because I am a conservative fighter who is not afraid to take on the DC swamp."
Miller, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, recently caused a stir within the Republican conference for spreading misinformation about a vaccine records bill and an annual defense policy bill that many House Republicans voted for.
As CNN first reported last month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene-- another controversial firebrand who is close with Miller-- had been lobbying Trump to throw his weight behind Miller, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had urged Trump not to get involved, concerned it could make things even messier for party leaders.
Davis, who is closely aligned with GOP leadership and is poised to become a chairman if Republicans flip the House, voted to certify the 2020 election results and backed a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection, which Trump railed against.
But Davis, who was first elected in 2012, has also tried to tie himself closely to Trump at other points; he was co-chairman of Trump's campaign in Illinois and caucused for him in Iowa.
Trump has shown no qualms getting involved in a race involving two incumbents, having already endorsed GOP Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia, who is challenging Rep. David McKinley, another Republican in the state, after redistricting lumped their seats into one district.
This afternoon, the dean of Illinois' political reporters, Lynn Sweet, wrote that "The difference between Miller and Davis-- who told me a few weeks ago on the Sun-Times' At the Table show he would welcome Trump’s backing-- is that Miller, a freshman, is from the far-right MAGA wing of the Republican party which includes Miller's friend, Trump acolyte, election denier and conspiracy theory peddler Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-GA). Trump’s move comes as he is looking to spark intra-party primaries in order to increase the numbers of Trump-loyal MAGA Republicans in the House in advance of his anticipated 2024 White House comeback bid. Within the same hour on Saturday afternoon, Trump announced his Miller endorsement and Miller she would be running from the new 15th congressional district with Trump’s backing.
In a statement, Davis campaign spokesperson Aaron DeGroot said all 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. It’s clear that Mary Miller is all talk, no action... Our campaign looks forward to educating voters on how Rodney is an effective conservative member of Congress and Mary is not.
...As of Sept. 30, Davis has $1,051,173 cash-on-hand compared to $426,769 for Miller.