By Illinois Review
Just five weeks before the November midterm election, Republican State Central Committee member Rhonda Belford, Dist. 12, was in Washington, DC attending the 109th First Lady’s Luncheon featuring First Lady Jill Biden. Second Gentlemen Douglas Emhoff, husband to Vice President Kamala Harris was also a featured guest.
The annual bipartisan event was attended by more than 2,000 people, who packed into the Washington Hilton Hotel for the September 23rd event.
Members of the US Military and their families were honored during the luncheon, a recognition that is well deserved, given the sacrifice that so many in our military and their families make every day in service to our country.
During the December State Central Committee meeting in Bolingbrook, Belford spoke for 20 minutes about the “Red Wave” of Republican victories in Illinois during the November midterm election, highlighting local victories in downstate counties that no one’s heard of before, including many of her fellow SSC members.
“Don’t tell me there wasn’t a red wave,” was a phrase she constantly repeated when rattling off local Republican victories. A point that made many of the grassroot conservatives in attendance laugh because of the absurdity of the suggestion that Illinois Republicans had a good day on November 8th.
But in reality, there wasn’t a red wave in Illinois, and as the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board pointed out in a Nov. 11 editorial,
“Republicans lost every state constitutional office – governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer – and 14 of 17 congressional seats. In the General Assembly, not only did the GOP fail to gain any ground on Democrats’ supermajority, Democrats notched a record number of seats in the Illinois House. And in the Illinois Supreme Court, where Republicans had an opportunity to gain two seats…they came up short. Democrats now have a comfortable 5-2 edge in the state’s high court.”
In May, Belford hosted an event for Republican State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, a friend and ally to House GOP Leader Jim Durkin, who on May 3, 2022, just days before Belford’s event, transferred $10,000 from Citizens for Durkin to Citizens for Patrick Windhorst.
In the last week, Illinois Review has published several articles about Durkin using his political influence to target conservative grassroots candidates during the Illinois Primary.
Sources also confirmed to Illinois Review that the IL GOP is blaming Durkin for the party’s postage discount abuse, where mailers “Paid for by the Republican Party of Illinois” were sent during the primary to viciously attack conservative Republican grassroots candidates that were challenging Durkin’s friends and political allies.
But while Belford attended a bipartisan event in Washington that honors the nation’s First Ladies, the optics of attending an event honoring Jill Biden just months before the November midterm elections, is a bad one. Especially when you are a senior leader of the IL GOP.
The next State Central Committee meeting is in February, and sources revealed to Illinois Review on Saturday that the meeting is private to prohibit grassroots conservatives from attending.
On Sunday afternoon, during the publication of this article, it was announced that Durkin is resigning his seat after more than 24 years in the Illinois legislature.
Stay tuned to Illinois Review for more updates.
