BAILEY TAKE 2: Capitol News Recap | Wednesday, Feb. 11
Darren Bailey thinks 2026 will be different despite losing by 12 points in the 2022 governor’s race.
We recently spoke with Bailey as part of our series profiling the four Republicans hoping to face Gov. JB Pritzker this fall. Ben Szalinski writes that Bailey is sticking to the same messages that were part of his 2022 campaign, but will be striking a different tone toward Chicago after branding the city a “hellhole” four years ago.
“Our messaging needed tweaked, no doubt,” Bailey told us.
Bailey argued he has an advantage as the only candidate in the race from outside Chicago. That makes him the only candidate who can truly resonate with the GOP’s rural voters, he said.
Bailey’s opponents say he can’t beat Pritzker because he isn’t from the Chicago area, but Bailey said his running mate, Aaron Del Mar of Palatine, will help the campaign find success in the state’s population center.
Watch our interview with Darren Bailey at the link above.
Though President Donald Trump has proven to be deeply unpopular in the suburbs in recent elections, Bailey is remaining as unapologetically conservative as ever.
He’s also mirrored some of Trump’s rhetoric, saying at a recent event that he “would love to see JB Pritzker arrested because of tyranny or a constitutional felony.” Trump himself suggested in October that Pritzker “should be in jail.”
Speaking of Pritzker, the governor is expanding his ever-growing platform. Pritzker’s campaign announced on Tuesday that the governor has launched a Substack account — a media platform that has become popular among some politicians as way to publish their thoughts directly to voters.
His first post was on how he crafted his 2025 State of the State address, in which he compared the president’s return to power to the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s.
“After I delivered the speech, some people said I was being unfair or alarmist,” Pritzker wrote. “One year later, it’s clear it really is a five-alarm fire. I still stand by every word.
”In other news, Pritzker has made an endorsement in the comptroller’s race. Check out that story and more below.
Election 2026
‘More listening and less talking’: Darren Bailey insists results will be different in 2nd run for governor
A recent poll by WGN and Emerson College found 34% of GOP primary voters planned to support Bailey. While 46% of voters were undecided, no other candidate cracked 10%. Bailey received 57% of the vote in the primary four years ago.
Bailey isn’t the fundraising leader, however, as researcher Ted Dabrowski and video gambling mogul Rick Heidner ended 2025 each with more than $1 million on hand. Bailey had about $35,000 in his coffers to end the year but has raised $81,500 from contributions of at least $1,000 since Jan. 1, financial disclosure reports showed.
Read more: Conservative policy wonk Ted Dabrowski gets off sidelines with run for governor
Pritzker backs longtime political ally Margaret Croke for comptroller
Gov. JB Pritzker is backing one of his longtime Statehouse allies, Rep. Margaret Croke, to be Illinois’ next comptroller. Croke has represented an Illinois House district on Chicago’s North Side since 2021, but her relationship with Pritzker dates back to 2017 when she helped lead Pritzker’s first campaign for governor. In a statement Monday, Pritzker said Croke “has always been committed to responsible fiscal management.”
Watch our interviews of the comptroller candidates on YouTube
FEMA funding rejected
Trump administration again rejects Illinois’ request for disaster aid from August storm
The denial by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, released Saturday, Feb. 7, is related to storms that impacted Boone, Cook, Kane, McHenry and Will counties, resulting in flooding, wind and hail damage, blocked roads, and power outages. FEMA first rejected the state’s request for aid in October, leading to a second appeal in November.
Environment
Taxpayers could be on the hook for millions in cleanup costs from old oil and gas wells
Now, a new report suggests that oil pumpjacks — and the inactive oil and gas wells that lie below them — are more than just relics of a bygone industry. They also could be environmental time bombs lurking underground, threatening to expose Illinois taxpayers to more than $1 billion in future clean-up costs.
Follow-up
Even though marijuana is legal in Illinois, clearing old criminal records still a challenge
Illinois residents can face long delays in clearing their marijuana-related records even after judges approve expungement and sealing orders. Although law enforcement agencies have 60 days to comply with court orders, records can still appear in background checks until the State Police update their database and issue a confirmation letter.
Partner Stories
The real story behind the midnight immigration raid on a Chicago apartment building
The Trump administration has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over a Chicago apartment building that was raided by federal agents. But new documents make no mention of the gang and reveal federal agents had information about “illegal aliens unlawfully occupying apartments.”
How much public and private money is powering Chicago’s quantum push?
A lot is riding on the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park – particularly for a South Side community that has been searching for a new economic engine since steel manufacturing collapsed in the region more than 30 years ago.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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