Barely four days after a WGN-TV poll of likely Illinois voters showed Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in his closest bout so far (51% to 40%) with Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey, the challenger told Newsmax that he feels “Illinois is breaking for me now.”
“You remember what it was like just before the [GOP gubernatorial] primary in June?” Bailey told us before a rally in Glen Allen (Ill.) featuring former Democrat and onetime Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, “There were six of us in the race and very few folks expected me to run that strong — let alone win. Well, I knew we were going to win a week before the primary and we did it with 60%.”
Bailey, 56, said he is getting the same feelings about a week before the general election despite the fact that Democratic Pritzker has outraised him by more than 23-to-1.”
“Lawlessness is the biggest issue in Illinois, for sure,” he said, “And it’s followed by high taxes and our failed school system.”
Bailey hit all of these hard during his recent televised encounter with Pritzker. But he reserved his hardest punches for the so-called SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today) Act, which reforms criminal policing, pretrial detention, bail, sentencing and corrections.
“It was passed in 2021 and it basically puts a revolving door on prisons,” he said, “Now my opponent will say that’s not so. But 100 out of 102 state’s attorneys said as much and told [Pritzker] not to sign it. And I’ve been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association and just about every law enforcement organization you can name.”
Traditionally, Republicans fail to draw 22% of the vote in Chicago they need to win statewide. But Bailey believes this will change Nov. 8, “since a lot of Chicagoans are fed up with [Cook County State’s Attorney] Kim Foxx refusal to prosecute most criminals and that the Chicago Police currently has 1,700 open positions.”
Conceding that the billionaire governor has a big advantage in terms of fundraising, Bailey argued that “we built a grass roots movement of folks who are fed up and like what I have to say. And I’ll outwork Pritzker. I’m a farmer and I’m used to getting up early and going to work.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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