Why Darren Bailey is Running Again
Republican Darren Bailey chats with a supporter at his gubernatorial campaign announcement in Carterville. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
NOTE: This story was originally posted for subscribers only. To receive subscriber-only newsletters and content, click here.
Former Sen. Darren Bailey, the 2022 GOP nominee for Governor, who lost to JB Pritzker by 13 points, admitted Tuesday what most people already knew: he wasn’t planning on running for Governor in 2026.
I spoke with Bailey on the radio Tuesday who confirmed that, as of August, he had no plans to seek elective office next year. But, he said, something changed.
“I can’t go anywhere without people suggesting and commenting that ‘hey, get in there and fight again for us,” Bailey said. “It’s probably six weeks ago when I got up early one morning and Cindy came in the office at five before I left for work, and I just told her, I said, ‘Cindy, I got this burning in my heart. I just can’t walk away from it.’ I’m one of those people that I don’t want to leave any stone unturned. And I live with no regrets. So, as the days after that began to unfold, just more and more people began to step up and just encourage us to get involved. So I began to look and explore what the field looked like. And, I just felt like this time things were different.”
Bailey entered the race last week, joined by a new running mate, Cook County GOP Chairman Aaron Del Mar.
But even if the conservative southern Illinois farmer wins the GOP primary next March, he still has to turn around a half-million vote loss to JB Pritzker in 2022.
“I learned that life in southeast Illinois is a whole lot different than the city of Chicago and the suburbs, and I probably took too much for granted with my messaging, thinking that all of Illinois wanted what I wanted and thought how I thought as a Republican and as a conservative,” Bailey said. “When you learn from your mistakes, you have to do a lot of things differently. You have to keep moving, keep changing. I think we’ve got a plan in place. We’ve got an organization in place. In my opinion, [I] have the best opportunity of beating JB Pritzker in 2026 of any other organization.”
Bailey said he’ll spend more time listening than talking during this campaign. He says addressing the spike in energy costs and the property tax burden in the state are among his priorities.
