Republican Darren Bailey is a farmer from Southern Illinois. He started his political career on the North Clay Board of Education in Louisville, Illinois. He served 17 years there, including a dozen as its president. From 2019 -2023, he served one term in the Illinois House and one in the Illinois Senate.
Democratic Governor JB Pritzker is seeking a third term in the state’s highest office. He was on the 21st Show last week.
Bailey faced Pritzker in the governor’s race in 2022 and Pritzker won that election. Now, Bailey is running again for governor. In the primaries this year, he defeated challengers to become the Republican nominee. Bailey also sat down with 21st Show host Brian Mackey last week at Illinois Public Media’s studios in Urbana to discuss why he’s embarked on this journey for the second time and many state policies.
Interview Highlights
On second run for governor
“I knew my name ID was up there and I knew it was good, but I wasn’t just going to step into this without knowing that we couldn’t defeat and win over JB Pritzker. So we spent a week just literally contact…the people who had contacted us and began to encourage us to run, we put a team together and said, “Okay, can we win?” I have to know that because I’m not going to blindly ask people to volunteer their time, their resources, their money to support us and come up with the same outcome.” So it became very obvious that yes, we can. We’ve drilled down on our messaging and we realized that 80% of all Illinoisans are fearful of their finances, their ability to financially survive.”
On state budget
“Well, I think before that (tax increase) was done in 2017, the budget was $32 billion. That was implemented. The budget became $34 billion. So there it was a $34 billion budget the first year I stepped in as a state representative. The first year JB Pritzker stepped in as governor. Today, it’s a $56 billion budget. I think we honestly have to ask ourselves, are we comfortable with that? Is that necessary? Is that money being spent wisely?”
On SAFE-T Act
“We kind of got a twofold question there with our prison system failing as it is. I mean, I’m hearing from Department of Correction workers every day as far as the inmates having really more rights than the people that are supposed to be keeping them safe and correct their nature. And that’s unfortunate. So likewise, out on the street, it’s really the same way. When the law enforcement brings someone in, that person’s usually out on the street before law enforcement fills out their papers.”
On Illinois’ Education system
“The children that graduate every year, 70% of them cannot read, write and do math at grade level. And for our friends in Chicago public school system, it’s 90% that cannot read, write and do math at grade level. That is an average. There are schools out there that are doing exceptionally well. Those are included in that average. So go to Illinois State Board of Education’s website. You can even look up your own school district and see the report card. Our schools are failing because JB Pritzker is almost forcing them to. It’s not the teacher’s fault. It’s the state that comes in and determines and demands what they must be teaching. I believe in local control. I think that the authority should lie within our local school boards to let them decide how they’re going to educate our children.”