Former RNC Delegates Converge In Central Illinois To Celebrate Trump’s Inaugural

Stella Kozanecki, front, with Maria Hough, Lanna Logan
Stella Kozanecki, front, with Maria Hough, Lanna Logan and Logan's mother watching Donald Trump's inauguration at the Neimerg’s Steakhouse in Effingham, Illinois on Jan. 20, 2017. Lauren Chooljian / WBEZ
Stella Kozanecki, front, with Maria Hough, Lanna Logan
Stella Kozanecki, front, with Maria Hough, Lanna Logan and Logan's mother watching Donald Trump's inauguration at the Neimerg’s Steakhouse in Effingham, Illinois on Jan. 20, 2017. Lauren Chooljian / WBEZ

Former RNC Delegates Converge In Central Illinois To Celebrate Trump’s Inaugural

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Three Illinois’ delegates who shared a room at last year’s Republican National Convention furthered their friendship over Donald Trump on Friday.

The high costs of attending the convention in Cleveland last July could have been prohibitive for Stella Kozanecki, so she put out a call for bedfellows on Facebook.

She found two, Maria Hough and Lanna Logan. Over the course of convention week, the three women shared two hotel beds. They became fast friends.

Six months later, Kozanecki and her former roommates met at a central location — the Neimerg’s Steakhouse in downstate Effingham — to watch the inauguration.

The women said they considered attending Friday’s ceremony, but didn’t regret staying in Illinois after seeing the crowds at the National Mall.

“Look at all the people! See, if we were there we couldn’t have seen anything,” Hough said as they watched the ceremony on the restaurant’s TVs.

From left to right, Lanna Logan, Maria Hough and her husband, and Stella Kozanecki watch as Donald Trump takes the oath of office on January 20, 2017. (Lauren Chooljian/WBEZ).

The three women wore Trump and GOP gear to the steakhouse. They burst into cheers when the President finished taking the oath of office. They nodded along as he delivered his inaugural address.

They even booked a hotel next door, so they could celebrate all day and walk home at night. This time they booked themselves more than one room.