Bailey's Small Dollar Campaign
GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey sits for an interview in Chicago in December. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
Throughout the primary campaign, many Republicans criticized GOP candidate and 2022 GOP nominee for Governor Darren Bailey for weak fundraising. Privately, his campaign touted a heavy small-dollar effort that fueled their winning effort in March.
With first quarter campaign finance reports filed Wednesday, their defense came true.
Bailey’s campaign reported raising around $604,000 in the first quarter of the year, and more than half (around $308,000) came from small donations under $150.
He outpaced his closest competitor in the GOP primary, Ted Dabrowski, who raised a total of $590k in the first quarter. (Bailey, of course, continued raising money after March 17, so it isn’t totally apples to apples.)
Campaign finance records, though, show Bailey’s campaign paid around $235,000 to a DC-area firm for “direct mail fundraising”
Bailey spent about $558,000 to win the primary.
“It’s a clear sign the base was with Bailey,” said a GOP consultant. “But $25 and $100 checks aren’t going to beat JB Pritzker.”
Governor JB Pritzker, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, spent over $9 million in the first quarter, including over $4 million in TV ads. Pritzker, who self funds his campaign, has around $14.2 million in the bank.
