East Central Reporter

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) called out State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Burr Ridge) for voting with Democrats to pass sweeping gun control legislation in the House.

Durkin, the outgoing House Minority Leader, was the sole vote for sweeping gun control legislation HB5855 that outlaws over 100 commonly available types of firearms currently legal in Illinois. 

“Advice for the Republican Party; Kevin McCarthy, step aside and pick someone else. Jim Durkin, do Illinois a huge favor and declare yourself a democrat!” Bailey said on Twitter.

With the exception of Durkin, the contentious House Bill 5855 received 64 votes, all from Democrats.

Durkin telegraphed his vote on the gun control legislation in mid-December. 

“This is a very important issue for myself, coming from my background as prosecutor, but also as a parent and a person who lives in the suburbs of Chicago,” Durkin said at a hearing on the bill.

Durkin opposed Bailey in the primary election, instead taking millions of dollars from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin to support the disastrous campaign of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who was outed early in the campaign for having voted several recent Democrat primaries. 

The failure of the Irvin's gubernatorial campaign, led many to question Durkin's leadership of the House Republicans.

Bailey’s mention of McCarthy in the same breath came after the California Congressman failed for the 13th time in a row to gain a caucus in the U.S. House. U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) is the only member of the Illinois GOP delegation voting against McCarthy. She has thus far refused to make a public statement on her stance. 

Speaking at a press conference representing a group of 20 detractors, mostly from the House Freedom Caucus, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said the group feels McCarthy is too indebted to lobbyist interests. 

“We sought a vote in the first quarter of 118th Congress on term limits. He refused. We wanted a budget from the Republican Study Committee that balances on the floor in the first quarter. He refused. We wanted the border plan that the Texas delegation put together on the floor. He refused time and again. His viewpoints, his positions, they shift like sands underneath you,” Gaetz said. 

Gaetz has suggested the only way the group will vote for McCarthy is through a power-sharing agreement in which members of their delegation are given powerful committee chairmanships and only after adopting new rules in the 118th House that will diminish the Speaker’s role.