The crowd of more than two dozen people filled Kiki's coffee house in Anna with cheering as Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey and his running mate Aaron Del Mar took to the stage. The two are on a statewide tour talking about their plan to win the Republican nomination for governor.
Bailey and Del Mar spent a large part of the event explaining how they'll bring in votes from areas like Cook County and the collar counties. Bailey lost to Governor JB Pritzker by a large margin in these areas in 20-22. Bailey's opponents have raised this as a primary concern against giving him the party's nomination.
After losing, Bailey says he reflected on the loss and has adjusted his thinking, "If I'm going to govern and lead all of Illinois, I've got to hear and I've got to represent all of Illinois."
One step Bailey took to change that was teaming up with Cook County Republican Chair Del Mar to help connect with more voters.
The other step is campaigning on what he says are problems facing all Illinoisans, calling these the 80-20 issues, "This principle is engaged with what 80% of all Illinoisans are struggling with. And JB Pritzker has given that to us as a hardship, and he's given that to us the last three years."
Del Mar says they're already reaching new voters, "These are the things that we can agree with on Democrats, Republicans, whoever, because we're all aggravated. And nobody's talking to Democrats and African Americans, Hispanics, and Eastern Europeans in the city of Chicago, except for us. We're starting now."
Bailey says these issues are economic affordability, public safety, and educating Illinois students. Bailey offered several quick steps to tackle affordability issues which he says has driven people out of the state, "Property taxes and energy prices, I mean, those are two issues right now that the governor could convene the legislature in and begin to tamper down and offer some relief."
It's a message that resonated with Sandra Lovett. Sandra campaigned and voted for Bailey in 2022 and after seeing his campaign she's in his corner again, "He heard from the people of Chicago. But this time, Pritzker's done too many things. He's, the people of Chicago seem fed up with him. So, I think he has a tremendous chance."
Jim Harmon is also voting for Bailey. He thinks the 80-20 ideas will help Bailey defeat Governor Pritzker if he wins the nomination, "I'm sure there's a lot of people up there that are struggling just like we are. I think we all, there's different things that are important to them and us. I think we just need to find some common ground."
Bailey faces Ted Dabrowski, James Mendrick, and Rick Heidner in the March 17th primary. Early voting begins February 5th.
