Community members gather outside of Congresswoman Miller’s Quincy office to ask, ‘Where’s Mary?’ 

QUINCY — A crowd of roughly 75 people gathered in front of U.S. Congresswoman Mary Miller’s (R-Ill. 15th District) office at the corner of 30th and Broadway Tuesday afternoon to ask, “Where’s Mary?” in response to Miller’s presence — or lack thereof — in the community as of late.

Those who gathered had a variety of motivations for doing so: some were there to express their disappointment and outrage at the administration’s approach to handling the war in Ukraine; some were motivated by the administration’s proposals for the Department of Education and hefty tax cuts for those making over $1 million; some were there because of Elon Musk’s actions as an unelected official to cut tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in federal funding.

So, what does all of that have to do with Miller? 

Allison Huber, one of the lead organizers of the event, didn’t deny Miller’s previous presence in Quincy. She said that the amount of changes that have been proposed and put into effect since the Trump administration has taken office, however, warrants a greater conversation. Fear of potential backlash that could arise as a result of that conversation is what Huber believes is holding Miller and her team back from scheduling a town hall style meeting.

“I think that the communication is necessary, even if it’s going to entail some hard-to-process feelings. As a communicator, that’s part of your job — it’s what we’re paying you for.”

Miller, who owns a farm in East Central Illinois with her husband, was in Quincy earlier this month speaking to farmers in an invite-only meeting with the Adams County Farm Bureau. 

Miller said nearly $10 billion of economic relief payments to farmers should be released by Thursday, assured the farmers that “President Trump cares deeply about American farmers and all of us” and said the “federal debt is unsustainable.”

She did not, however, mention the ongoing efforts by House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion or how President Trump’s tariffs and budget cuts are already affecting farmers across the country. A grant that provided Illinois schools and childcare centers with federal dollars to purchase food from 138 local farms was cancelled by the Trump administration in the days following Miller’s visit.

Kate Daniels, president of the Adams County Democrats, was unable to speak with Miller while she was in town.

“We’ve written and called, left messages. They are polite but she never responds except with her newsletter or a response that is not on topic,” Daniels said in a text message Wednesday morning. “We are her constituents, too, and she has a responsibility to represent us since she takes our tax dollars.”

Miller first took office in 2021. In 2022, redistricting pitted Miller against Rodney Davis, a prominent Republican incumbent who was named co-chair of the Trump campaign in Illinois but fell from the ranks after being labeled as a traitor for certifying the results of the 2020 election and “supporting the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot” (not the January 6th House Committee). 

She went viral after she said the overturn of Roe v. Wade was a “victory for white life” during a June 2022 campaign rally in Mendon hosted by Trump. (Her campaign claimed she misspoke.)

With the momentum of Trump’s support, Miller defeated Davis by 15 percentage points in the Republican primary and again claimed victory after beating Democratic candidate Paul Lange in the general election by more than 40 percentage points.

“She’s a true Trump loyalist,” Lange said of Miller at Tuesday’s demonstration. “I don’t think she really cares about people.”

Muddy River News reached out to a spokesperson for Miller for a response to Lange’s claim, but as of the publication of this article, the spokesperson has not responded.

Lange said Miller refused to answer questions or host town hall meetings during the 2022 campaign, and that her failure to answer questions now allows important programs that benefit her constituents to be cut without any explanation as to why the cuts were made and how they will affect people in the area.

Lange said that budget cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, which are all but unavoidable to meet the administration’s goal of cutting $880 billion in federal spending, would significantly impact Quincy’s largest employer, Blessing Health. He also mentioned cuts that affect veterans.

Larry Ruemmler, an 81-year-old Vietnam War veteran, said that the defunding of The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs is “terrible and dangerous.” Budget cuts to the department have resulted in plans to eliminate 83,000 jobs, thus exacerbating existing staffing shortages at VA clinics across the country. The cuts are anticipated to delay and  minimize healthcare to veterans, reduce the efficacy of a veteran-specific suicide hotline and stymie research efforts.

“(VA workers have) always been courteous, respectful and knowledgeable,” Ruemmler said. “There’s talk about government employees as if they’re worthless or they don’t exist, but a lot of them have skills that I don’t have. I’m not trained in medicine, that’s not my forte, but they’re very good at what they do and I’ve been pleased by the care I’ve received.”

Ruemmler worked as a legal aid lawyer for 40 years after serving in the Army, a job in which he represented the most vulnerable of 

“I saw a lot of poverty there, but I thought that the government could help. I still believe that we’re here to help others who are less fortunate than we are,” he said. “I’ve been appalled by some of the — it’s actually meanness — taking away benefits that people should have.”

Zoe Agrimonti, who is studying to become a teacher, is worried about the future of the Dept. of Education, which President Trump and his allies have stated multiple times their intent to abolish. Miller signed on as a cosponsor on a bill introduced in the House by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th District) to close the department, which could result in the loss of millions of dollars in federal funding for schools in the Quincy area to fund programs that support low-income students and students with special needs.

“It concerns me because, number one, she hasn’t met with any of us, so she doesn’t even know who she’s representing at this point,” Agrimonti said. “It also concerns me because, in about two and a half years, I am going to be looking for a job teaching and it may not exist anymore. Then I’m just out of luck, right?”

Larry Markway appeared at Tuesday’s demonstration with a Ukrainian flag in tow. He’s been in communication with Ukrainians and Russians alike for the last 25 years because of his interest in Eastern European artwork. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, though, much of his communication with his Russian contacts ceased. He still talks to and even FaceTimes those in Ukraine. 

When asked why people in Quincy should care about the war in Ukraine, he said that it represents something much bigger.

“I think (Ukraine) is the most pure case of a free people wanting to get out from underneath the boot of an imperial aggressor, and failure to stop (Russian president Vladimir Putin in Ukraine) will mean he will continue wars, which means that we will continue to face the potential of more actions against people who have been our allies for 80 years,” Markway said. 

Miller’s absence is in line with a trend among Republicans to avoid town hall meetings, due to the less-than-warm welcomes they receive from their constituents. GOP lawmaker Rep. Mike Flood of the deeply conservative state of Nebraska recently faced “a cacophony of jeers, boos and angry demands for answers” just minutes into a town hall last night, and Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina was drowned out by boos after stating he’d “proudly” voted for last week’s House budget resolution.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has advised Republicans to avoid their angry constituents — who Trump has called “paid troublemakers” — by not hosting town halls.

Miller has yet to schedule a meeting to answer any questions Quincyans have, but Huber is hopeful that she will soon.

“I hope that by holding this (demonstration), it lends credence to the reality that there are so many constituents from all walks of life that have confusion and are fearful, frankly, of what is happening — not really understanding the policies that are going into effect and how those are going to impact our day to day lives,” Huber said.

“We feel, at worst, not represented. At best, misrepresented.”