By Illinois Review
On February 9th, the Illinois Republican Party is hosting a Bank Your Vote Gala featuring honored guest, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy – a conservative, pro-life Republican from Louisiana, who will be in town for an event being dubbed: “Save Illinois by making your voice count in 2024.”
But there’s one major problem: the IL GOP’s co-host for the gala is Greg Hart – a pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” who continues to bash the wildly popular former president and leading Republican candidate for President on his social media accounts.
In October of 2022, just a month before the midterm election, IL GOP chair Don Tracy and the IL GOP paid for a pro-choice mailer in support of Hart, who was running for DuPage County Board Chair.
In the days leading up to the mailer, Hart’s wife Alex released a campaign video saying,
“As DuPage chairman, Greg won’t change our laws supporting a woman’s right to choose, and he will always support women’s health.”
And in the mailer, Hart again reiterated that her husband “will always protect women’s rights and never restrict our right to choose.”
That’s right – the Illinois Republican Party not only endorsed Hart’s pro-choice mailer, they even attached their name to it and paid for it.
And this contradicts the Illinois Republican Party Platform, which was adopted on October 3, 2020 and says,
“We believe that our natural rights, as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, begin at conception and continue until natural death.
We support a human life amendment to the federal and Illinois constitutions affirming the right to life of unborn children, and we support making clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”
The document goes on to say that,
“We advocate the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
But the most interesting part of the platform is the conclusion, which states,
“This Platform is that of the Illinois Republican Party. While we acknowledge and respect reasonable differences in opinion and discussion among Illinois Republicans, candidates for, elected public officials of, and party officials of the Illinois GOP, all shall endeavor to support the platform and uphold its planks.”
Hard to “support the platform and uphold its planks” when the IL GOP supports and endorses pro-choice candidates – a direct contradiction of its very own platform.
And the pro-choice, so-called Republican Hart remains critical of Trump. On. June 8, 2023, Hart posted on his personal X account,
“I think Donald Trump is not fit to be leader of the free world.”
On June 9, 2023, Hart reposted a statement on X written by former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan – another “never-Trumper” that said,
“Our party has a clear choice to make: do we want to spend the next election making the case against Joe Biden’s presidency , or do we want to spend it defending Trump’s indefensible behavior in multiple prosecutions?”
In another post on X, Hart posted,
“Yet another sickening statement from someone who is not fit to be President.”
In 2016, President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Kennedy during the runoff to replace retired U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), tweeting,
“Our great VPE, @mike_pence, is in Louisiana campaigning for John Kennedy for US Senate. John will be a tremendous help to us in Washington.”
In 2021, President Trump endorsed Kennedy for re-election, saying,
“Fantastic news for Louisiana and the U.S.A. – Senator John Kennedy will be seeking re-election! John is strong on Crime, the Border, our Military, our Veterans, Pro-Life, Energy and the Economy, and our very much under siege Second Amendment.”
And a little over a week ago, on January 24th, Kennedy endorsed President Trump over his rival Nikki Haley, posting on X,
“Competition makes us all better, so I let the primary play out, but this thing’s over. It’s going to be Pres. Trump versus Pres. Biden: A choice between hope and more hurt. It’s not even close. I choose hope. I am endorsing Pres. Trump and look forward to working with him.”
As a U.S. Senator – Kennedy consistently receives an A rating for his pro-life views.
“Human life is precious, and that’s why I’ll continue to stand with Americans who are fighting to give a voice to the voiceless and defend the defenseless.”
Kennedy opposes using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions and he fought against the Democrats’ attempts to force states to legalize abortions up to the point of a child’s birth. Sen. Kennedy has also led the effort to defund Planned Parenthood.
And according to the Senator’s office, he “authored the Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act to protect the health of women and children and the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, which would make it a crime to abort a child based on his or her gender.”
The IL GOP Gala on February 9th will be at the Westin in Rosemont.
