The once-every-two-year spectacle is the formal kickoff to campaign season, with candidates for state, federal and judicial offices filing hundreds to thousands of signatures to secure their place on the March 17 primary ballot.

Bailey began the campaign in downstate Carterville before taking a helicopter owned and piloted by his son to Bloomington, then departing for his opening rally in suburban Oak Brook later in the evening.

The former state senator and farmer from Clay County would become the highest-profile Republican to enter the race, having lost the 2022 campaign against Gov. JB Pritzker and a close primary race in 2024 against U.S. Rep. Mike Bost for a downstate congressional seat.

A federal judge on Wednesday said he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.

The Republican ticket of former President Donald Trump and running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is set to visit several swing states this week. While the Democratic team of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is going on a bus tour of Georgia.