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U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky Will Attend Women's March, Not Trump Inauguration

By Linze Rice | January 18, 2017 10:41am
 Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky addressed her former school on Chicago's Far North Side, saying she got her start in leadership and politics there.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky addressed her former school on Chicago's Far North Side, saying she got her start in leadership and politics there.
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DNAinfo/Linze Rice

ROGERS PARK — Chicago native U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) announced Wednesday morning she is among the growing number of lawmakers boycotting Friday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. 

"I have decided to join the growing group of my colleagues who will not attend the inauguration in protest of a President who used bigotry, fear, and lies to win an election that was tainted by foreign interference and voter suppression — and who intends to betray the interests of the ordinary working people who put him in office," she wrote on social media. 

"My constituents and I are fired up in opposition to the Trump Agenda and are determined to not allow the Republicans to destroy the hard fought progress we’ve made."

The congresswoman had originally planned to attend the ceremony as a "witness for the resistance," said her Press Secretary Jeronimo Anaya-Ortiz, but a wave of outreach from constituents who were "opposed to a hateful agenda" helped change her mind.

The Trump administration's professed agenda, coupled with statements on Twitter from the President-elect over the weekend denigrating civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), solidified Schakowsky's decision to forego the inauguration, Anaya-Ortiz said. 

"She really did weigh the decision heavily; she thought about it a lot," he said.

Other congressional reps from Chicago have also said they're not attending, like U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) who earlier denounced Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). 

In total, nearly 60 Democratic lawmakers across the country have said they are skipping the event in protest of Trump.

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) has also said he doesn't plan to attend

Instead, Schakowsky said she'll be attending the Women's March on Washington. 

"She has consistently been a supporter, a vocal advocate ... her entire professional career is in part dedicated to improving the state of women in this country and around the world," Anaya-Ortiz said. "Absolutely, she is 100 percent a feminist, I don't think there's a question there."

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