Welcome to the 666th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’re going to be discussing Illinois House of Representatives member Jeanne Ives, who was first elected to office back in 2012 after winning the GOP Primary for her seat by about 700 votes. We’ve actually been meaning to have a discussion about here for a while, as she’s been in the CSGOPOTD queue, but the fact that in 2018 she challenged Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner in the GOP Primary was enough to get her prioritized as more of a threat to warn whoever might be reading this about.



After all, it was only in her first three months on the job back in March of 2013 that Ives referred to same sex marriage as a “disordered relationship” on a local Christian radio show, before going on to say that:

That part about a child being an “object of desire“ sure seems like she’s implying gay couples with adopted kids will try to bang them, doesn’t it? (Oh, she’s homophobic, we’re just getting started here.)



In April of 2014, she was part of a GOP effort to block passage of a ban on gay conversion therapy in Illinois, and by August of 2017, the Illinois GOP hadn’t done anything to dissuade Jeanne Ives from openly hating gays and lesbians, so she just decided that it meant it would be fine to share articles from honest-to-not-goodness hate groups online that claimed Christians were somehow victims of gay people because LGBT protections exist.



Now, while people were expecting maybe a little bit of homophobia or transphobia from Ives during the campaign, they didn’t think they would see it in the GOP Primary, where Ives ran an ad spot featuring actors thanking Gov. Rauner for a lot of things he actually didn’t do. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if they didn’t have minority actors in it sarcastically claiming to be able to use whatever bathroom they want, a woman proud of getting an abortion, and a proud member of a teacher’s union. When Republicans and Democrats alike called the ad “repulsive”, Ives refused to take it down, doubling down and saying “Rauner’s policies are what were really repulsive”.



That wasn’t her only moment of offensive commentary, though, as she is also a nutter for firearms. Her voting record saw her vote against a prohibition on the sale of bump stocks in Illinois that was brought into the Illinois state legislature after the Las Vegas Massacre, but at a candidate forum on Martin Luther King Day where she was asked about a solution to high gun violence statistics in Chicago, she gave the solution (well, not so much a solution as race-baiting) as “more fathers in the home”, disgusting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy enough at her racism and ignorance that he just walked off stage.



In a moment that’s terrifying to consider as the status quo for the Republican Party, the hardline bigot, Ives, still managed to get 48.3% of the vote against Bruce Rauner in the GOP Primary in the Governor’s Race. That’s far closer to sniffing the governor’s mansion than she should have ever gotten. Hopefully, she will never be returning to the state legislature, and do any more damage to any Illini.

One Year Ago, April 6th, 2017: Tara Mack (MN)

Two Years Ago. April 6th, 2016: John Picchotti (ME)

Three Years Ago: April 6th, 2015: Mary Sue McClurkin (AL)