A contentious House resolution to condemn Illinois Republican Representative Chris Miller for his role in the January 6th riot in Washington D.C. fell along party lines Thursday night in Springfield. Illinois House Democrats brought Resolution 132 to the House floor for a vote. The vote went 57-36 adopting the resolution to condemn Miller, with no Republicans voting to condemn, several of those same Republicans voting ‘present’, and some downstate Democrats not voting or voting ‘present.’
Prior to the January 6th riot, Miller, whose wife is Illinois’ 15th U.S. District Representative Mary Miller, attended and spoke at a Save America Rally in front of former President Donald Trump’s supporters. In a video of the speech at the rally posted to his own Facebook page, Miller characterized Democrats as terrorists and said the country was in a great culture war. Miller said he was later locked in his wife’s Congressional office during the duration of the riot. The Oakland Republican state representative’s vehicle was later spotted having a decal of the “Three Percenters” far-right militia group in its rear window.
The resolution, filed on March 1st by Democrats, says that Miller “violated his oath to the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of Illinois by actively and publicly promoting the actions of an internationally recognized para-military hate group.” The matter is also currently being investigated by the Legislative Inspector General for possible further discipline.
In the vote Thursday night, 100th District Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer voted “no” on the resolution. Fellow local Republican representatives Norine Hammond of the 93rd District and Avery Bourne of the 95th District voted ‘present’ along with 3 others.