Suburban elected leaders split on attending inauguration
Illinois' elected leaders are split on whether they're attending President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel aren't planning to attend.
Other Republicans including U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton are going.
Among members of Congress representing the suburbs, Democratic U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Mike Quigley of Chicago won't attend.
"I have decided to join the growing group of my colleagues who will not attend the inauguration in protest of a president who used bigotry, fear and lies to win an election that was tainted by foreign interference and voter suppression - and who intends to betray the interests of the ordinary working people who put him in office," Schakowsky said in a post on Twitter, adding that she will join the Women's March on Washington on Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville has said he's undecided.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Brad Schneider of Deerfield plan to attend the inauguration.
"I think it's important to be a witness to the continuity of the American experiment," Schneider said.
Schneider believes it's also important to "bear witness" to this new president, "and for him to know that I'm going to stand up and fight for my district."
Schneider said there was no pressure from Democrats boycotting the inauguration for him to join them.
"Everyone is making their own decision," he said.
The two Democratic U.S. senators from Illinois, Dick Durbin of Springfield and Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates, will attend the inauguration.
"My feelings about the president-elect are pretty clear, but I think there's a matter of respect for the office and respect for the constitutional process," Durbin told Politico. "Absent clear and convincing evidence that he did not win that election legitimately, then I'm going to be there."
• Daily Herald staff writers Russell Lissau and Eric Peterson contributed.