East Central Reporter

Darren Bailey, state senator from Xenia who's running in the gubernatorial race, reacts to national media coverage of major companies leaving the state.

He highlighted the need for strong leadership in Illinois to improve its economy, which he finds lacking in the incumbent state leader.

"JB Pritzker would love for voters to forget about the companies leaving our state, but we must remember what the impact of his failed policies has had on our state," Bailey said. "We are losing people and we are losing jobs as a direct result of Gov. Pritzker’s mismanagement of state government. The reason people are leaving Illinois is because of our state’s hostile business environment. The result is job loss and population loss. JB Pritzker refuses to talk about what is happening under his watch because his policies are the reason these companies are leaving. We can’t keep pretending these problems don’t exist. It is time to confront them head-on. JB Pritzker is unwilling to do the job. It is time we had a governor who will implement the policies we know will reverse the mass exodus from our state. States like Florida and Texas have provided the blueprint to economic growth. We need a governor who will follow their lead and turn our economy around."

The Wall Street Journal created a video recapping the exit of several corporate headquarters. 

“After years of operating in Illinois, three major companies—Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel—are moving their headquarters out of the state. In this video, WSJ looks at the economic and political implications,” the Wall Street Journal said in its preview of the video.

Corporate offices of many businesses have relocated outside of the state. Boeing, the most well-known producer of aircraft, announced that it would leave the region beginning in May. In 2001, the vast aerospace industry, which started in Washington, moved to Chicago. The outbreak cost the company almost 16,000 jobs, or more than 10% of its whole staff, NBC 5 Chicago reported.

The relocation of Caterpillar's corporate headquarters to Irving, Texas was announced on June 14. The decision was made with the company's "strategic interest," according to Jim Umpleby, chairman and chief executive officer of Caterpillar. The company said that there would be no impact on the 230 employees at the headquarters office, according to Chicago Tribune.

Ten days after Boeing announced its exodus from Illinois, Chicago City Wire reported that Citadel Securities stated that security concerns led to its relocation from Chicago to Miami. 

“The firms are having difficulty recruiting top talent from across the world to Chicago given the rising and senseless violence in the city,” Zia Ahmed, a Citadel spokesman, told The New York Times. “Talent wants to live in cities where they feel safe.”