Politics
Bailey Declared Winner of Republican Primary in Illinois Governor’s Race
Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey speaks at a news conference with running mate Aaron Del Mar on Jan. 8, 2026. (Jenna Schweikert / Capitol News Illinois)
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Clay County farmer Darren Bailey is now a two-time Republican gubernatorial nominee.
Bailey won Tuesday’s Republican primary election with nearly 54% of the vote, with 71% of votes counted, according to the Associated Press. He’s followed by the former president of the conservative blog Wirepoints, Ted Dabrowski, at nearly 29%.
“I want to work together to make Illinois government work together again at all levels,” Bailey said to a crowd of supporters Tuesday night. “Together, we can make Illinois affordable again.”
In November, Bailey will again face incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker in the race for the governor’s seat.
Also in the GOP race on Tuesday were DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and real estate developer and video gambling firm owner Rick Heidner.
In the 2022 race for governor, Bailey handily won the Republican nomination but lost against Pritzker by nearly 13 percentage points in the solidly blue state. In that race, Bailey was flush with millions from GOP megadoner Richard Uihlein, owner of Uline office supply.
This cycle, Uihlein has moved on to supporting Dabrowski’s campaign, donating $250,000 last year.
In 2022, Bailey won the endorsement of President Donald Trump. The president has not endorsed a candidate this year.
The SAFE-T Act, the criminal justice reform law that eliminated cash bail, has been a key issue for the Republican candidates.
Bailey, Dabrowski and Heidner have called for rolling back the law. Mendrick has previously stated that he supports the elimination of the law, but supports its cashless bail provision.
All four candidates have spoken against Illinois’ sanctuary laws that generally bar local law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration officials.
Some candidates’ rhetoric has been more extreme than others. Mendrick has claimed, “We are being replaced,” though he maintained his comments were not tied to the white nationalist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and had “nothing to do with Whites. This has a thing to do with citizens and non-citizens,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Affordability and government spending have been a campaign issue for all four candidates. To attempt to save on government spending, Bailey has proposed creating an Illinois version of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which did not meet its spending-cut goals. Dabrowski has proposed pushing legislation that would cap any property taxes above 1% of a home’s value. Heidner has said he would like to freeze all state taxes early in his tenure and audit every state department. Mendrick has threatened to jail Pritzker for his actions on taxes.
Pritzker ran uncontested in the Democratic primary.
Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock.bsky.social | [email protected]
