East Central Reporter

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) says a new GOP primary poll in the race for governor, where he registers more than five times the support of his closest challenger, tells him what he's known since launching his campaign. 

“Confirming what we already knew; this election is not for sale,” Bailey recently tweeted. “People are ready for change and our grassroots movement to fight for working families and restore Illinois is only getting stronger. We will fire Pritzker and get Illinois working again.”

The Ogden & Fry poll of Republicans likely to vote in the primary pegs Bailey’s current support at 33%, with businessmen Jesse Sullivan (6%), Gary Rabine (5%) and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf (3%) not registering half of that level of support combined.

According to Politico.com, researchers also found nearly nine out of ten (88%) of the respondents support masks being optional in schools and 86.6% view former President Donald Trump favorably.

Bailey has long been a critic of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of the COVID crisis, at one point suing the administration over its stay-at-home order. Recently, the Democratic Governors Association blasted Bailey and the other three GOP candidates as “anti-science.”

Bailey supporters chalk it up to just more politics.

"It is clear that the Democratic Governors Association is terrified about Darren Bailey," his campaign posted on its Twitter page. "They know JB is vulnerable, and they see our campaign as the top contender to defeat him next November.”

Team Bailey argues it’s easy to see that Bailey is the better candidate.

“Pritzker has failed working families across the state and has been unable to keep communities safe,” the post added. “He is nothing but a mandate candidate who wants to unilaterally control private businesses, shut down churches, and force children to wear masks."

Bailey and his supporters paint him as being the polar opposite

"Darren built his family farm from the ground up and raised his family here; Illinois is home and worth fighting to restore," Bailey's page posted. "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."

Bailey said the recent resignation of Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope went a long way in motivating him to launch his run and led the charge for true ethics reform. 

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