Bailey: "People ... need someone to stand up for them"

Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey says he believes his second run for the state's highest office will surprise everyone.

The former state Senator and farmer from the southern Illinois town of Louisville is running for a second time to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Their first meeting in 2022 ended with Bailey receiving 42% of the vote to the Governor's 55%. Bailey, whose running mate is suburban Cook County native Aaron Del Mar, is mounting a campaign without much of the financial support he enjoyed in the 2022 race, with many deep-pocketed Republican donors staying out of the race.

Nevertheless, he told WBBM Newsradio during an extended phone conversation that he expects to win on November 3.

"We are running right now in the most under-estimated race in the nation," he told political editor Geoff Buchholz during the October 12 interview. "I think what's going to happen here in Illinois is going to shock the state. I think it's going to shock the nation."

Bailey said most of the people he's met during his campaign, except for people he described as "straight-up Democratic" voters, are frustrated with the direction of the state: "I have yet to find someone to look me in the eyes and say, 'No, life's better today than it was eight years ago.'"

He suggested that the governor's signature bail-reform law known as the Safe-T Act has made people less safe, despite statistics suggesting violent crime is on the decline in Chicago and statewide, and increases in use and other taxes have made the state less affordable.

"It's simply got too expensive to live in Illinois," Bailey said. "I'm feeling it. Everywhere I go in the state, I'm hearing it. My approach to affordability is that I'm living it. I'm as common as the next person. J.B. Pritzker knows nothing about affordability. Let's be honest about that. I'd love to know what he considers expensive."

He also said the governor's attempts to blame policies of the Trump Administration for driving up costs are nothing more than deflection: "He's running away from the problems he's created, period."

Noting Pritzker's frequent mentions of President Trump and appearances in other states, Buchholz asked Bailey "Do you feel as though he's running past you, and not against you?"

"You may be right," Bailey responded, "because he can't address his last eight years. It's full of failures."

He says his first task would be to convene a group of people from all political parties to begin "the turnaround of Illinois."

"I think we're going to win."