Bailey "Election Integrity" Hire "Doesn't Deny" 2020 Election Result
Bloomington-Normal activist and radio host David Paul Blumenshine has been hired by GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey’s campaign to run an “election integrity” program. Blumenshine attended Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 rally in Washington.
A downstate radio host who has been hired to run an “election integrity” program for GOP gubernatorial nominee Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), attended Donald Trump’s speech and marched to the Capitol prior to the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. But David Paul Blumenshine says he and a group of listeners of his conservative radio station did not enter the Capitol grounds, and were eating at a Cracker Barrel restaurant outside D.C. while the majority of violence occurred at the Capitol.
Blumenshine, who has previously run twice for State Representative and for Normal Town Council says he “doesn’t deny” the result of the 2020 election as he tries to put together a statewide team of election judges for 2022.
Blumenshine said they saw the situation go downhill, but none of those who attended the radio station-sponsored bus trip entered the Capitol building. Though, Blumenshine implied some of the rioters may have been bussed in. No evidence of bussed in rioters has been reported.
“I’d go again. In a heartbeat,” Blumenshine said. “It was not the day they depict it to be.”
While both Bailey and Blumenshine were strong Trump supporters, Blumenshine says he accepts the results of the 2020 election.
“You don’t hear me saying ‘let’s audit the vote of 2020.’ You don’t hear me saying we’re backing up the bus,” Blumenshine said. “In 2022, for the first time, we’re coordinating an effort to guarantee free and fair elections.
He said 2020 was marred by changes to election laws during the pandemic.
“Election rules and laws should not change inconsistent with what the state legislature has already put together. We know that happened across the board,” Blumenshine said. “I’m not denying what took place, because it’s passed. What we’re trying to do is assure that we have election integrity going forward.”
But there is certainly doubt.
“Do I believe Joe Biden got 81 million votes? It’s really hard to believe that,” Blumenshine said.
The Bailey campaign previously tried to distance itself from supporter Lawrence Ligas, who was arrested and charged for taking part in the January 6 riot.
Bailey hired Blumenshine to coordinate groups like the Illinois Conservative Union and FreedomWorks to recruit election judges and poll watchers to keep a close eye on every ballot counted.
“We realize there’s a need for election judges and there’s a need for poll watchers,” Blumenshine said. “We know that, unequivocally, in order to have free and fair elections, you have to have eyeballs on every ballot. I think everybody, Republican or Democrat, wants election integrity. Or, at least, I hope they do.”
Though, it appears Blumenshine and the Bailey campaign will be willing to accept the result of the gubernatorial election. They just want to ensure it is done correctly.
“If a Democrat wins based on a free and fair election, a Democrat wins. If a Democrat loses in a free and fair election, a Democrat loses,” he said. “If a Republican wins, a Republican wins. If a Republican loses a Republican loses. That’s all we’re doing.”
