East Central Reporter

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) is no fan of so-called vaccine passports.

“J.B. Pritzker and the political elites support vaccine passports because they want to control you,” Bailey recently posted on Facebook. "They want vaccine passports for people like you to go into stores and attend events. They want the government to control many portions of our lives. It's no surprise Pritzker and the political class are trying to force a vaccine passport on the people of Illinois.”

Bailey, who has formally launched his 2022 campaign against Pritzker, insists part of his motivation for doing so is to put an end to all the abuse he thinks the governor has heaped on residents.

Bailey recently filed a lawsuit against Pritzker that ended up with a Clay County judge rejecting the governor’s attempt at enacting another executive order that would extend the shutdown restrictions.

"I am a person of faith with strong convictions," Bailey said. "I will be a governor for the people of Illinois guided by the lessons that I've learned from faith, family, and community. It's time to lift ourselves out of the mire of partisan anger and cynicism. It's time to restore confidence in government. It's time to revitalize our state. It's time that we live up to our name: 'The Heartland of America.'"

Bailey said his advice to Pritzker would be to take a long, hard look in the mirror.  

"For decades, this man and his party drove the bad decisions that decimated our state,” he added. “But listen, don't think that just because he's gone that his policies are going to disappear anytime soon. Because of the bad decisions that he has made, businesses are fleeing Illinois, and our friends and family are fleeing with them.”