(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A downstate Congressional race has an interesting primary.
When Darren Bailey lost the governor’s race in 2022, he was left without a place to sit when the music stopped. That’s where five-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost comes in.
Bailey, a former state lawmaker and a farmer from Clay County, is trying to re-enter elective office by attempting to out-conservative Bost.
Bailey blasted - literally - the state budget in his gubernatorial campaign commercials. Bost, as a state lawmaker, famously punched a sheet of paper while screaming, “Let my people go!” in a rant over then-House Speaker Mike Madigan’s control of the chamber.
Bailey said Bost, of Murphysboro, is part of the "swamp" and part of the problem, too liberal and too entrenched in Washington.
The Southern Illinoisan reports that he said his opponent has been a Congressman for 10 years and served 20 years in the Illinois House, but has not brought jobs and business to southern Illinois and brought up the fact that Bost voted to give amnesty to undocumented immigrants.
However, Bost has vastly outspent Bailey and has the endorsement of former president Donald Trump.
The 12th Congressional District includes almost all of southern Illinois.
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