Former GOP Gov. Edgar says he’ll vote for Biden

Former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar said Monday that he is voting for Democrat Joe Biden for president this year.

“The biggest thing … was the issue of character,” Edgar said in an interview. “I just think Joe Biden is a very decent person.”

And he said that while he thought GOP President Donald Trump “might grow into the job” after the 2016 campaign, “I don’t think he’s done that.”

“I have been very disappointed,” Edgar said. “We’ve had chaos for four years we didn’t need to have. I mean, there’s always going to be some turmoil, but he stirs it up. He bullies. You can’t believe what he says because he’ll do the different thing the next day. … He’s bungled the virus, there’s no doubt about that. He continued to stir up division in the country, (when) a president should be trying to bring people together. I mean, the list goes on and on.”

Edgar, 74, now living in Springfield, made his comments on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where delegates voted Monday to nominate Trump for a second term. The Illinois GOP is presenting livestreams on the Illinois Republican Party Facebook page each of the four days of the convention. Those events will include introduction of a new Illinois Black Republican Coalition on Tuesday. And on Thursday, there is a planned discussion involving U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, who is in a nationally-watched re-election race against Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan of Springfield in the 13th Congressional District, and Esther Joy King of East Moline, the GOP candidate running against U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois, of Moline, in the 17th Congressional district.

Edgar, who was a state representative and secretary of state before serving as governor from 1991-1999, has broken with his party previously. In 2016, he said he wouldn’t vote for Trump, but didn’t reveal his vote at the time.

Edgar said Monday that he had always voted for Republicans for president until 2016. Asked if he marked Democrat Hillary Clinton on his ballot, he said, “I think you could guess that, yeah.”

The former governor, who first revealed he is voting for Biden in Politico Illinois Playbook, said that back in 2016, he was bothered by the negative ways Trump talked about former U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Mexicans. He also didn’t feel comfortable with Trump’s business record, which included “breaking deals” and bankruptcies.

As for the key issue of character, Edgar said Monday, “I think the president should be someone that … we probably don’t always agree with and they’re not perfect, but at least you respect them. And young people can look to.”

Edgar said presidents when he was growing up -- Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, and John F. Kennedy, a Democrat -- “weren’t saints,” but “you could look at them and respect them and have some pride. That, to me, is very important to come from the White House. And I just don’t think that’s happened in the last four years.”

“I feel much more comfortable voting for Joe Biden than for Hillary Clinton,” Edgar added. “Do I agree with him on everything? No. But I think he will conduct (himself) as a president should. And I think people in both the United States and around the world … will respect him.”

Edgar said he worries about foreign policy.

“I just don’t get this thing with Trump and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Trump said, saying of Russians under Trump: “We kind of give them a pass.”

And he said the GOP has seemed to become “a Trump party.”

“Twenty years ago, who would have thought the Republicans would be defending … somebody like Putin?” Edgar said. “Or who would have thought we’d be at loggerheads with our allies? I mean, Eisenhower’s got to be rolling over in his grave. This is all kind of coming from Trump.”

While Trump and many other Republicans say Biden will enact radical policies, Edgar, who hasn’t met Biden, said he thinks the Democrat’s pragmatism will be reflected in his actions.

“If they go too far left, I think that’s a mistake,” Edgar said. But he said he thinks Biden is “a liberal but he’s not a far left winger. … That’s again, what I would like to see in the White House. … He probably will side with the unions more that I would, but I don’t think he’s going to take over the private sector and nationalize or anything like that. …. I’m sure if he gets elected, there’ll be things he’ll do, I’ll say, ‘Gee, why’d you do that.’ But I say that every day about Donald Trump. At least there’s going to be somebody in the White House people will have a respect for.”

Edgar downplayed the effect making his preference public will have in Illinois – as the state has trended Democratic in presidential elections.

He still thinks Trump will do well in downstate – a political region including areas outside the northeast part of Illinois – including Rockford. And he said that could help the GOP make gains in the Illinois General Assembly in those places.

But he said the suburbs of Chicago tend to “swing the way the top of the ticket goes,” and he thinks Trump will not do well there.

Chicago is considered a Democratic stronghold.

A spokesman for the state GOP did not respond to Edgar’s statements.

The state party’s Facebook live Monday featured party Chair Tim Schneider and National Committeeman Richard Porter from the convention center in Charlotte, N.C. Schneider said that Illinois voters can choose between “law and order” with the GOP, or a Democratic Party where “lawlessness abounds.”

“I really think we have the momentum going into November,” Schneider added, saying he thinks Trump can win Illinois.

The Facebook live conversation involving Davis and King will be Thursday evening but an exact time was not announced as of Monday afternoon.

Will County GOP Chair George Pearson, Kevin Suggs, a former Tinley Park commissioner and now a GOP committeeman, and Diante Johnson, who is on the board of Black Voices for Trump, will be announcing the Illinois Black Republican Coalition on Facebook at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

A 4 p.m. Tuesday stream will be on the topic of Hispanic outreach, and the program at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday will feature U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and former state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, who is running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and Libertarian Bill Redpath of West Dundee in the 6th Congressional District.

Contact Bernard Schoenburg: Bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com, 788-1540, twitter.com/bschoenburg