Right Wing House Candidate Promoting Endorsement from Convicted Cross Burner
116th District GOP candidate Angela Evans pictured with Donald Trump, Jr. Evans is running a radio ad criticized as “racist” and promoted an endorsement from a police chief convicted of burning a cross in a Black person’s yard in the 90’s.
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A conservative southern Illinois House candidate under fire for a “racist” radio ad about migrants legally in the United States was endorsed by a former candidate for Sheriff who was convicted of burning a cross.
Cross burning is considered a symbol of hate, often directed by Ku Klux Klan members at Black residents or homeowners.
Republican Franklin County Board member Angela Evans, who is challenging Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) in the March 19 primary, was criticized by Republicans last week after she began running a racially charged radio ad mocking Latinos.
Evans is also publicizing the endorsement of Ben Burkhamer, the Police Chief of the Franklin County community of Zeigler. In 2022, Zeigler ran for Franklin County Sheriff, losing a primary.
At the time, The Southern Illinoisan detailed a 1994 cross burning incident involving Burkhamer, who was 22 at the time.
“One of my classmates had a sister in a biracial relationship. He thought it would be funny if we burned a cross in their neighborhood,” Burkhamer told The Southern. “We were dumb (and) drunk ... It was just stupidity.”
The woman in the interracial relationship was asleep in her home with her 6-year-old daughter a 2-year-old boy she was babysitting at the time when the cross was burned outside.
"According to a stipulation of facts, Burkhamer had agreed to aid McConnell in burning the cross in the yard, and understood that the purpose of doing so was to use a threat of force against [the victims]," according to past The Southern reports.
Burkhamer pleaded guilty for interfering in housing rights, a misdemeanor. He received two years of probation and was fined $1,000.
Because Burkhamer’s conviction was a misdemeanor, he is not precluded from being a police officer.
Burkhamer could not be reached Monday.
One southern Illinois Republican insider we spoke to Monday called Evans’ recent brushes with race-related issues “troubling.”
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,” the insider said, quoting the old saying. “She’s making it really hard for anyone to take her seriously.”
A message to Evans Monday was returned by Jose Durbin, a longtime aide to former Sen. Darren Bailey, who accused The Illinoize of running a “hit piece” and referred to our publication as “fake news.”
The House Republican campaign arm did not comment.
