Bailey Announces Run for Governor
State Senator Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) announces his bid for Governor in Effingham Monday night.
State Senator Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), a one-term State Representative who has served in the State Senate fewer than two months, launched a bid for Governor Monday night.
The southern Illinois Republican has risen to prominence as one of the most outspoken critics of Governor JB Pritzker’s mask mandates, economic shutdowns, and has sued the Governor over whether he has constitutional authority to declare continued emergences. Outside of a ruling from a friendly judge in his home county, Bailey has lost all of his efforts in court.
Speaking before a crowd in Effingham, which observed little social distancing and just a handful of masks could be seen on video feeds of the event, Bailey made nearly no mention of the pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 20,000 Illinoisans.
“Illinois is in trouble. And it started a long time before the current COVID crisis,” Bailey said, in his only mention of the virus in his 12-minute speech. “Government here in Illinois, for a long time, has always spent more than it took in. What’d they do? They raised your taxes. And then government continued to spend more than it needed. Up went your taxes. The cycle never ends.”
He says Democratic governance, which has dominated the state for the last two decades, has been the key factor for population loss in the state.
“Businesses are fleeing Illinois. And our friends and family are fleeing with them,” Bailey said. “Illinois lost 850,000 people in the last decade to other states. People have left looking for work. Our family and friends have left looking for affordable housing. Our family and friends are leaving because of high taxes. Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Democrats have failed us, and it’s time to stop it.”
Bailey offered little in terms of policy positions, except three related to the state’s financial situation.
“As Governor, I will demand a budget that freezes spending with no tax increases,” he said. “I will offer a zero-based budget ideal. That means every department starts at zero, and every department will have to make their case for every dollar in funding. We’ve got to stop passing budgets that spend dollars without an honest review of each spending item, that’s what happens every year.”
He also promised a tax cut for “every Illinois family” by the end of his second term as Governor. He offered no specifics on budget cuts, pension reform, or Medicaid spending. Pensions and Medicaid make up a considerable amount of state spending.
Bailey spent one term in the Illinois House, elected in 2018. He passed one piece of legislation in his first term, a bill in 2019 increasing traffic fines for passing a stopped school bus. Last November, he was elected to the State Senate, to replace Sen. Dale Righter, who did not seek re-election. Bailey is a farmer who holds an Associates Degree from Lake Land College in Mattoon. If elected Governor next year, Bailey would be the first Governor without a Bachelor’s Degree since Louis Lincoln Emmerson, who was born during the Civil War and was elected Governor in 1929.
“For far too long, the citizens of Illinois have been left without a voice. People in Illinois have been divided.,” Bailey said. “We’ve been used, we’ve been mocked, we’ve been marginalized. People in Illinois have been ignored based on their race. They’ve been ignored based on their class, their ZIP code, or by special interests. All the while, a political class has done absolutely nothing but enrich themselves while destroying our state and robbing our children and our grandchildren of our future.”
Bailey was among the leaders of a conservative group of southeastern Illinois legislators, often referred to as the “Eastern Bloc,” which attempted to garner support to split the state in two.
Most observers believe Bailey has a strong base of support, mainly in central and southern Illinois. But it has yet to be seen if he can raise enough money to compete in the vote-rich Chicago suburbs in a primary. He is not considered a prolific fundraiser. He started the year with around $180,000 in his campaign account. Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), who is also considering a run for Governor, has the most money on hand of potential GOP candidates, filing at the first of the year with around $575,000. Without his name appearing on the ballot in 2020, billionaire Governor JB Pritzker gave his campaign around $3 million just to continue operations and to donate to other candidates.