GOP Jamboree tries to attract youth vote
Homer Glen event looks to draw younger voters to the party
Hundreds of people turned out Friday for a GOP Jamboree at Konow Farm in Homer Glen featuring well-known Republican speakers David Clarke, the former sheriff of Milwaukee County, and Ann Dorn, a police widow whose husband was killed in St. Louis riots earlier this year.
Event founder Robert Cruz said the event was meant to attract younger people to the Republican Party and not an explicitly pro-Trump event. But with weeks until the election, attendees turned out for the event in Trump hats, shirts and even flags.
Still, Cruz said he just wants to attract people to the party regardless of the personalities. He said he survived leukemia this year and, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, said he thought people could use a rally as away of inspiration.
“I was thinking about being more active and involved and then COVID-19 hit,” he said. “This looked like the right time to get involved.”
He began planning the event in February.
“The objective was to inject culture into the Republican Party,” Cruz said. “It might be viewed as part of an older culture.”
The majority of the audience was, however, older. Some of the younger attendees said they were not comfortable identifying as Republicans for fear of being harassed at school or work.
“I think right nowat the current culture, it’s considered a sin to say you’re a conservative and I disagree with that,” Cruz said.
Monica Derry said she is a proud Trump supporter and she made a series of signs to show her support of the president. She said the GOP is a welcoming party and she hoped Friday’s event would draw in newcomers.
“I think we need a lot more people in,” she said. “We’re very welcoming. I’ll talk to anybody.”
Derry, who is a grandmother, said college is a disconnect for younger people.
“College is full of liberal professors and they’re getting our kids away from capitalism and God,” she said.
Derry said her own daughter went to college and was leaning Democratic until she was “rescued.”
But Derry wasn’t there for the bands or for the crowd. What brought her out Friday was Clarke.
“I love him,” Derry said. “He’s standing up for the police. They need our support more than anything. And he used to be a Democrat.”
Clarke, sheriff of Milwaukee County from2002 to 2017, was an early supporter of Trump and is African American. Clarke still supports the president, he said at the rally.
“After serving my community for over 40 years, I’ve taken on a new mission, and that mission is to fight for freedom and liberty in the United States of America,” Clarke said. “I feel that my job is to help you fight for freedom, liberty and the Constitution so that we can hand it off to the next generation of people.”
Ali Alexander, the emcee for the evening and a popular figure among the right wing, said he appreciated the diverse turnout.
“I see Blacks, I see whites I see Latinos, I see Puerto Ricans, whatever census box they’re checking,” he said. “I see Americans.”
Cruz said had two expectations for the event.
“One, we hope to see a large turnout, a safe space for conservatives who are into music and art so we can shed some of the old labels of racism and that the Republicans are old and out of touch and no fun,” he said. “And, two, the main focus is inclusiveness.”