U.S. Representative Mary Miller Defends Husband, Cautions Conservative Christians

Written By Christine Misner

U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R-Effingham) is defending her husband, Illinois State Representative Chris Miller (R-Oakland), from claims by “progressive” caucus Illinois Democrats that he violated his oath of office by attending the January 6 rally held by former President Donald J. Trump in Washington, DC. She claimed his critics are targeting conservative Christians.

The Millers are Christians who attend Oakland Christian Church in Oakland, Illinois, where she teaches Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. Mary is a freshman U.S. House Representative. Chris has served in the Illinois House since 2019.

In a March 3 interview with Springfield radio station WMAY, Congresswoman Mary Miller acknowledged that her husband attended the rally but made clear he wasn’t near where any of the violence occurred. “It never crossed his mind once to be violent,” she said. “We don’t advocate violence. We stand for rule of law and anybody that was violent or broke the law should be arrested and prosecuted, but he had nothing to do with that.”

State Rep. Chris Miller, who was seen on multiple videos from the rally, attended it with some of his constituents, said the congresswoman. Additional controversy was raised when a photo of his truck, located in a restricted parking lot near the Capitol, revealed a decal for the group, The Three Percenters.

In video taken at the rally, Rep. Miller said, “I think it’s important to know we are 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, communism, and the dangerous Democrat terrorists that are trying to destroy our country.” The video that did appear on his Facebook page has been removed, but others have preserved the video online.

On February 26 Kristina Zahorik, president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association, submitted a complaint against Rep. Miller for his attendance at the rally with the Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope. On March 1, State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) filed House Resolution 132 (HR 132) condemning Rep. Miller and claiming he violated his oath of office. The resolution also references the complaint. HR 132 has 35 co-sponsors, including the new Illinois House Speaker, Representative Chris Welch (D-Westchester).

According to the resolution, “Miller participated, and publicly promoted his role, in a rally that led to a violent insurrection of the Capitol of the United States of America, which resulted in the death of United States citizens, including members of law enforcement.”

The resolution claims he “continues to show no remorse for this blatant violation of his oath of office and has continued to publicly support The Three Percenters, a para-military, anti-government hate group identified by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center as having the goal of overthrowing the United States government through violent revolutionary tactics.” Read the entire resolution.

Rep. Morgan defended the resolution, according to The Center Square, saying, “If we don’t take actions to make sure that doesn’t get repeated, I’m sure Congresswoman Miller will be at the next rally and Representative Miller will continue to talk about others as terrorists or the enemy.”

The Congresswoman told WMAY, “The attack is not just on him or on me, but it’s on all of my colleagues. We are all getting vile, vile messages and death threats. They’re misrepresenting and lying about us, taking things out of context.”

She further warned Democrats weren’t just going after Republican politicians but conservative Christians as well. “Their goal is to scare conservative Christians, especially, to be quiet and don’t get involved,” she said. “And I can say they may be coming for us today, but they’ll be coming for you tomorrow. And I want to tell everybody to grow a backbone and get involved and speak up.”

Congresswoman Mary Miller has offices in Danville and Effingham. Representative Chris Miller has an office in Robinson.

Meanwhile, a new Harvard/Harris poll surveyed the views of Americans concerning the events of January 6 and the violence that took place in the nation’s cities over the summer of 2020. The poll found that 55% of Americans 55% were more concerned with “violence in American cities” than the “incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.” Respondents were slightly more likely to view Antifa (71%) as a domestic terror organization than the Proud Boys (66%).

It also found 65% of Americans believed “the perpetrators of violence at the U.S. Capitol will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” compared to 48% who believed “the perpetrators of violence in America’s cities over the summer are being looked for and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Harvard/Harris poll was conducted February 23-25 and surveyed 1,778 registered voters. The political breakdown of respondents was Democrat – 37%, Republican – 36%, Independent – 25%, and Other – 2%.

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