East Central Reporter

Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) has responded to an ad by the Democratic Governors Association that labels him and other Republican gubernatorial candidates "anti-science, anti-Illinois, and anti-safety."

"It is clear that the Democratic Governor's Association is terrified about Darren Bailey. They know JB is vulnerable, and they see our campaign as the top contender to defeat him next November," Bailey's campaign posted on his Twitter page. "Pritzker has failed working families across the state and has been unable to keep communities safe. He is nothing but a mandate candidate who wants to unilaterally control private businesses, shut down churches, and force children to wear masks. Darren built his family farm from the ground up and raised his family here; Illinois is home and worth fighting to restore. We are building a grassroots movement full of thousands of working Illinoisans to defeat JB next November, and no amount of money will stall our momentum."

In a series of tweets, Bailey said that Pritzker is "unwilling to engage the people and legislature to take targeted approaches, support local control, and find solutions that do not decimate our economy, hurt our children or diminish freedoms."

Bailey has called for substantial ethics reform in Springfield in the wake of the resignation of Inspector General Carol Pope. The senator blamed Democrats and the governor.

"The root of the problem leads directly to the governor and his Democratic cronies. We have lost the public's trust in our state to do business and until substantive ethics reforms are passed, nothing will change," Bailey wrote on Facebook.

Bailey has long pushed for ethics reform.

"Corruption runs deep in Illinois politics and it's unfortunate that time after time, we continue to face roadblocks in our efforts to reform the state's ethics laws. This year, my colleagues and I sponsored several bills to help overhaul a broken system by curbing corruption and holding legislators accountable."