State Senator Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) announced on May 27 that he will not attend the Illinois General Assembly’s joint session to celebrate and retire Senator Dick Durbin. Chesney said, “I will not attend today’s embarrassing spectacle to celebrate Dick Durbin’s career of failure.”
Chesney criticized the event as a taxpayer-funded gathering with partisan motives. He said, “This event is nothing more than a sad, taxpayer-funded Trump-bashing circus while Illinois continues to rank dead last in nearly every economic indicator. Instead of pretending to honor a man who helped turn our great state into a national punchline, we should be working to clean up the wreckage he leaves behind.”
He further characterized the session as political theater rather than an opportunity for serious reflection about Illinois’ future. Chesney said, “Senator Durbin started out pretending to be a moderate, but he quickly became a loyal foot soldier for the radical, out-of-touch left. He has spent decades with his head buried in the sand, ignoring the damage his policies caused. Reckless spending? That is Durbin. Crushing taxes driving businesses and families out? Thank Dick Durbin. Sanctuary policies that rolled out the red carpet for millions of illegals on the backs of Illinois taxpayers? That is his legacy too.”
Chesney continued by saying that Durbin represents longstanding problems within state politics: “The man is a textbook example of everything wrong with Illinois politics. He is ineffective and completely disconnected from the real struggles of our people.”
He concluded by urging colleagues not to participate in what he called political theater: “The only good news is that this career politician is finally retiring. It is long overdue. Every legislator who actually cares about fixing this state should skip today’s political theater and get back to work.”
Chesney was elected as a Republican to represent Illinois’ 45th Senate District in 2023, replacing former senator Brian Stewart, according to Ballotpedia.
