A Rockford man convicted of sexually abusing a student at the high school where he taught has given Darren Bailey's campaigns money three times since 2022. Bailey visited his church in June. His campaign says it didn't know — after a reporter called.
A 2017 video resurfaced in 2022 showing Bailey minimizing the Holocaust. The ADL and leaders of both parties denounced it. Bailey's response was to claim Jewish community support — and the group he named publicly contradicted him.
Seven people were killed at an Independence Day parade and the shooter was still at large. Bailey went live to 111,000 Facebook followers and told Illinois to move on. When the state banned assault weapons, he went to court to strike the ban down.
Called the City That Powers Our State a "Hellhole"
You can't lead Illinois while insulting the 2.7 million Illinoisans who live in its largest city — the economic engine of the entire state.
In 2019, Bailey co-sponsored a resolution calling for Chicago to be cut loose from Illinois and made the 51st state, on the grounds that "the majority of residents in downstate Illinois disagree with City of Chicago residents on key issues such as gun ownership, abortion, immigration, and other policy issues." Once he was running for governor, he brushed it off as "an old resolution" and "a warning shot."
During a 2022 WGN-TV candidate appearance, Bailey labeled Chicago "a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole" — and at a debate the following week, he doubled down on the claim.
Now that he needs Chicago's votes to beat Governor Pritzker, Bailey has changed his tune — "I said something dumb, and I am certainly not too proud to admit when I'm wrong," he said in an April 2026 campaign video, after saying he had moved into an apartment on the city's Near South Side. Which Darren Bailey should Illinois believe?
A governor is supposed to fight for every corner of the state — not write off millions of its people. We deserve better.
Said the Holocaust "Doesn't Even Compare" to Abortion — Then Doubled Down
Some things should be beyond politics. The Holocaust is one of them. Not for Darren Bailey.
In a 2017 Facebook video, recorded while he was running for the Illinois House, Bailey declared that "the attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II doesn't even compare on a shadow" of the life lost to abortion.
The Anti-Defamation League, a member of the Illinois Legislative Jewish Caucus, and leaders of both parties denounced the comparison — including Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, who said the Holocaust "was one of the worst atrocities in the history of humankind and any comments that minimize it have no place in our political discourse." Bailey offered no apology.
Told Illinoisans to "Move On and Celebrate" 90 Minutes After the Highland Park Massacre
On July 4, 2022, a gunman fired more than 70 rounds into the Independence Day parade in Highland Park, killing seven people and wounding more than 40. While families were still searching for their loved ones — and the shooter was still at large — Darren Bailey went live on Facebook.
After the backlash, his campaign issued a conditional apology through a spokesperson — "I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today" — while also trying to shift blame to Governor Pritzker.
Seven neighbors were murdered at a parade, and Darren Bailey's instinct was to tell us to move on. We deserve better.
Bailey led a challenge filed in White County — one of hundreds of plaintiffs — claiming the Protect Illinois Communities Act, the ban passed after the Highland Park massacre, violates the Illinois Constitution.
Ran for Governor on Banning Abortion With No Exceptions for Rape or Incest
Decisions about pregnancy should be made by a woman, her family, and her doctor — not by politicians. Darren Bailey ran for Governor in 2022 demanding those decisions be made by the government. Four years later he says he has changed his mind.
Bailey has called for abortion to be banned in Illinois, with an exception only when the life of the mother is at stake. Asked in 2022 whether he would allow it in cases of rape or incest, he answered: "Personally, in my heart, I don't."
Darren Bailey ran for Governor promising to force survivors of rape and incest to carry their attackers' pregnancies. He now says he would do no such thing. Illinoisans have to decide which of the two would take office.
Blames Illinois — Not ICE — for the Raids on Illinois Neighborhoods
For months, federal agents ran Operation Midway Blitz through Chicago and its suburbs. Asked what he made of it, Darren Bailey's answer was that the real problem is Illinois.
In November 2025, a federal judge ordered hundreds of people released from federal custody because their arrests during Midway Blitz were possibly unlawful and in violation of a court order. A month earlier, in extending the 2022 consent decree that limits warrantless ICE arrests, the court had found that DHS and ICE violated it repeatedly.
Days into the operation, an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas González at a traffic stop in Franklin Park. DHS said the agent had been dragged "a significant distance" and suffered "severe injuries" — but body camera footage caught the agent describing his own injuries as "nothing major." Federal agents also shot Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park and routinely used chemical irritants during the operation.
A governor's first job is to protect the people who live here. Darren Bailey looked at masked agents seizing his own constituents and asked for troops. We deserve better.
Tells Illinois Farmers to Wait Out Trump's Tariffs
Illinois grows more soybeans than any other state. Trump's trade war shut its biggest customer out — and Darren Bailey's advice is to be patient.
Illinois had been selling roughly $1.4 billion in soybeans to China. The state's own agriculture director, Jerry Costello, said that market "has all but dried up because of Donald Trump's trade war," and in October 2025 Governor Pritzker declared an agricultural trade crisis in Illinois.
Accepting the result of an election you lost is the price of admission to public office. Darren Bailey wouldn't pay it.
At the 2021 Illinois State Fair, Bailey repeatedly refused to say whether he believed Biden won the 2020 election, answering reporters only that "Joe Biden is our president." Asked directly whether Trump's claim that the election was stolen was true, he replied "I don't know." The Chicago Tribune reported it was not the first time he had called the outcome into question.
Illinois's governor certifies its elections. Darren Bailey wouldn't say who won the 2020 presidential one. We deserve better.
Darren Bailey's 2022 run for governor wasn't paid for by Illinois. It was paid for by one man.
Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein put more than $50 million behind Bailey — $10 million straight to his campaign, and $42 million to Dan Proft's People Who Play By The Rules PAC, which spent it running attack ads on his behalf.
When a single donor pays for an entire campaign, that donor is who the governor answers to. We deserve better.
