Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who faces a tough re-election fight this fall, said on Thursday that he won’t be attending the July Republican convention so that he can avoid the “jamokes” like Donald Trump who are running for president.
During an interview on WGN Radio’s “The Roe Conn Show” highlighted by Buzzfeed News, Kirk first cracked a joke about his hair when asked why he would skip the convention.
“I’ve got to really do my hair that week,” the Illinois senator said. “Make sure that my hair is just perfect.”
He then said that he will be focusing on his own re-election.
“I’ll be back home in Illinois, talking to the people of Illinois, and running for re-election, very much focusing on Illinois and its issues and not hanging out with those ’16 jamokes who are running for president,” Kirk said.
He was then asked whether he was skipping the convention to avoid Trump.
“It’s mainly just to focus on the issues at hand and make sure that everybody who is leaning every which way with the riverboat gamble that comes with the Trump candidacy and to make sure that I can focus on just Illinois, only Illinois, and completely my state only,” Kirk said in response.
Kirk was also asked whether he has been coordinating with the Republican National Committee about re-election strategy if Trump wins the presidential nomination.
The senator said that he doesn’t like “party-only solutions.”
“I actually don’t see what particular good the RNC adds to the equation. Being party officials, you can’t really get stuff going in Washington without bipartisan action. So I start off my service to Illinois by always making sure I am in partnership with a Democrat,” Kirk said.
