‘I would feel unsafe’: Some suburban reps plan to skip Trump’s inauguration

Several members of the suburban delegation to Congress won’t attend Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, citing sharp conflicts with the incoming president’s polices and actions.

One said she’ll skip the event out of fear for her safety.

All the representatives serving the North, West and Northwest suburbs and both of the state’s U.S. senators are Democrats. Of Illinois’ 17 representatives, only three are Republicans, and all three live downstate.

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Chicagoan who represents the largely suburban 3rd District, is among the lawmakers who won’t be at the U.S. Capitol for the historic ceremony.

Ramirez said she’ll spend the day in her district at events honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the federal holiday that bears his name. Presidential inaugurations have been held on Jan. 20 since the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted in 1933, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January.

“A better way to celebrate MLK – who is the exact opposite of what we’re about to get as president – is to be with my community, with my people,” Ramirez said. “Especially as this man, on Day One, announces all the horrible things he will do to try to harm the communities I love.”

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, who represents the 6th District, also is snubbing Trump in favor of activities in his district.

“On Jan. 20, I could attend the inauguration and listen to the president-elect debase the office of president of the United States,” Casten said in a prepared statement. “Or I could spend the day with family, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his patriotism and the dream he had for the United States. I choose the latter.”

Eighth District U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and 9th District U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston also will skip Monday’s ceremony. Like Ramirez and Casten, they plan to participate in service-related activities in their districts, staffers said.

Krishnamoorthi attended Trump’s first inauguration in 2017; Schakowsky didn’t.

Conversely, 10th District U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Highland Park plans to attend the inauguration. As a member of Congress, Schneider said it’s his responsibility and “great honor” to witness the peaceful transfer of power between presidents.

“Elections are the foundation of our democratic republic, and irrespective of who wins or loses, we are still one nation united in celebrating the rights and protections established by the Constitution,” Schneider said through a spokesperson.

The 11th District’s Bill Foster and the 14th District’s Lauren Underwood, both of Naperville, will attend the inauguration, too.

Schneider and Foster were at Trump’s first inauguration; Underwood, like Casten, joined Congress two years later in 2019.

A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicagoan who represents the significantly suburban 5th District, couldn’t be reached. Nor could a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Springfield will attend Trump’s inauguration, a spokesperson said, as he did in 2017.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250115/nation-and-world-politics/i-would-feel-unsafe-some-suburban-reps-plan-to-skip-trumps-inauguration/

‘I would feel unsafe’: Some suburban reps plan to skip Trump’s inauguration

In a prepared statement, Ramirez said she ‘would feel unsafe’ at the inauguration because she is ‘a brown woman (and a) daughter of immigrants.’ Ramirez’s parents came to the U.S. from Guatemala.