SHIRLEY, Ill. — Illinois farmers heard pitches from incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker and downstate Republican farmer Darren Bailey on Monday as each argued they’re best positioned to address agricultural issues.

Bailey, a former state lawmaker who was also his party’s nominee for governor in 2022, told the crowd at the candidate forum — hosted by the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable on a farm south of Bloomington — that he speaks their language and best understands the challenges they face.

Pritzker, the two-term Democratic governor with a business background who owns horse farms in Wisconsin and Florida, argued his governing record shows he’s been a better friend to farmers than Bailey’s party, which must answer for price hikes caused by President Donald Trump’s policies.

“We have everything that we need; we are just lacking leadership,” Bailey said, pledging to be a “spokesman” for farmers as governor.

But Bailey’s record doesn’t show he can deliver results for farmers, Pritzker argued to reporters following the forum.

“Darren Bailey hasn’t done anything for farms,” Pritzker said. “He passed two bills when he was in the state legislature and they had nothing to do with farms. And he doesn’t have a proposal for anybody that makes sense.”

Both candidates spoke to farmers each for nearly an hour and did not cross paths.

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In a nearly 20-minute stump speech before taking moderated questions, Pritzker leaned heavily on his overall governing record, citing broad economic development achievements as evidence he is a good governor for farmers. He also tried to level with the audience about his agricultural knowledge.

“Know what you don’t know and be willing to ask for help from people who are smarter than you are,” Pritzker told the crowd. “And that’s why about six years ago, I hired Jerry Costello as the director of the Department of Agriculture.”

Estate tax

Both candidates agreed that Illinois needs to reform the estate tax. The issue has long been a top priority for the state’s farmers, who say taxes are strangling farming families and making it harder for new generations to continue the business. Right now, a deceased farmer’s family is required to pay taxes on the whole estate if it’s valued above $4 million.

Bailey said the state’s tax rate should at least match the federal exemption of $30 million for families. He got emotional describing how families struggle to keep farms alive when the primary owner passes away and surviving family members must pay taxes on the estate. He said the state’s current policies are driving farmers out of Illinois.

“Thinking back to my son, Zach — I have a son that was killed — he was in the process of moving to Florida or Texas potentially,” Bailey said. “They were looking into that because of the hardships that Illinois is bringing on business, on the farm, on the schools, on our families.”

Pritzker said he supports a bill with bipartisan support in the General Assembly called the Family Farm Preservation Act, which would exempt the first $6 million of any estate meeting farm property qualifications from being taxed.

“It’s time for us to make sure that farmers can hand their farms down through the generations as they have been for many generations up to now with less tax on that transfer,” Pritzker said.

Estate tax revenue increased by 44% in fiscal year 2026 and was a key driver of revenue growth for the year, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

Data centers and energy

How to regulate data centers was also a hot topic at the forum, with many farmers concerned about rising utility prices, water usage and how much land the expansive facilities occupy.

Pritzker pledged to “hold their feet to the fire” and make sure data centers are supplying their own water and electricity.

“What we want, I think importantly, is for local governments … to make their own decisions about whether they want to have a data center located there,” he added.

Bailey said Pritzker has pushed “too fast” for a transition to clean energy and should’ve foreseen earlier how much power data centers were going to require. He also said the state should end its ban on new coal and natural gas plants to help deal with the utility problem.

“Time is running out,” Bailey said. “This is part of what’s leading to businesses moving out of Illinois.”

Working with Washington

As the candidates debated agricultural issues, Pritzker blamed many problems on Trump.

“Without a farm bill, without FEMA dollars or a cessation of international hostilities, a divided Washington is hanging our farm communities out to dry,” Pritzker said.

Bailey is a supporter of Trump and defended the president’s tariffs.

“I do believe that these tariffs that are imposed … (are) a short-term pain for a long-term gain, and I believe it’s the only tool that we have to be competitive again,” Bailey said.

Pritzker countered the state can help farmers dealing with the pain of rising costs.

“State government can’t do a lot about stopping a hot war in Iran or trade wars with the rest of the world,” Pritzker said. “What we can do is help our farmers with things like promoting new ag trade, fixing rural roads and bridges and river ports, expanding agricultural education, attracting more food processors, investing in our rural communities and making it easier to do business in Illinois.”

Senate race

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Don Tracy also participated in the forum. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the Democratic nominee, was a no-show. Her campaign confirmed she was participating in fundraisers and other events in Martha’s Vineyard.

“It does seem like a misplaced priority to go to a fundraiser instead of a meeting with the Illinois Farm Bureau,” Tracy said.

In a statement, Stratton’s campaign said she will meet with the organization next week and “has been a strong advocate for Illinois’s farms and farmers.”

Throughout the forum and in questions with reporters afterward, Tracy tried walking a line between acknowledging the price pain caused by Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran and defending the president’s decision-making.

He said farmers are a “pawn” in the trade war but didn’t say Trump should relax his trade policies.

“The jury is still out on tariffs,” Tracy said. “I do think the president is using tariffs as a tool to try to reset world trade policy so that we’re no longer subsidizing the rest of the world and we are achieving a level playing field.”

Speaking to reporters later, Tracy said who should levy tariffs is a “complex question.” The Constitution reserves most tariff powers to Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Trump’s broad tariffs are unconstitutional.

On Iran, Tracy told reporters he opposes a war powers resolution in Congress, arguing Congress shouldn’t be “micromanaging” a conflict and “can’t do it in real time.” He said he supports Trump’s blockage on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, comparing it to the consequential Union blockage of Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Civil War.

Drawing another historical war analogy, he likened rising prices to “required sacrifices” Americans made during World War II.

“I’m hoping the American people will be patient,” Tracy said. “But I do like the approach the president seems to be taking, which is to win economically, win this war by economic leverage.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.