CARTERVILLE, Ill. — Former state Sen. Darren Bailey on Thursday acknowledged that when he ran unsuccessfully for governor against Democrat JB Pritzker nearly four years ago, he didn’t understand the issues affecting Chicago and its suburbs like he did in other parts of the state.
That experience has set the stage for what appears to be a unique campaign structure for the wealthy farmer from southeastern Illinois as he kicked off a relaunch of his bid for governor with a suburban Chicago running mate, Aaron Del Mar, who plans to focus on helping Bailey win over voters in the northern most populous areas of the state while the candidate at the top of the ticket will focus on everywhere else.
“The big issues are certainly different in Cook County and Chicago than they are in the rest of the state,” said Bailey, flanked by his running mate outside a southern Illinois restaurant, the first of three stops across the state to formally declare his run for governor. “So I think Pritzker has helped us immensely with his failed, disastrous policies from north to south.”
“You know, one of the things that you can see about this campaign that’s going to be different than four years ago is that we’re combining north and south,” said Del Mar, head of the Cook County Republican Party who hails from northwest suburban Palatine. “Darren has brought me on specifically to talk about the issues that are happening in urban areas and the collar counties, as well as suburban voters, and that’s who we’re going to be targeting.”
The uniqueness of the geographically split ticket strategy was immediately evident. After the pair while downstate fielded a couple of Chicago-related questions from the news media, one reporter countered by asking what they’d be “bringing to southern Illinois.”
“That’s a Darren question,” Del Mar replied.
When the pair ultimately made their way to the Chicago area Thursday evening for the third and final stop on their tour, they were greeted by a crowd of about 30 protesters outside The Drake Oak Brook in DuPage County. There, the group, including the head of the DuPage Democrats, held signs and neon poster boards with large block letters reading, “NO MAGA IL GOV.”
Darren Bailey, center, with running mate Aaron Del Mar and wife Cindy, celebrates his gubernatorial candidacy on Sept. 25, 2025, at the Drake Hotel Oak Brook. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Inside a crowded hotel banquet hall before more than 100 supporters, there was little evidence of a newer approach with an introductory speaker saying, “Even if Darren is crucified for it, he will not stop until we make Illinois great again.” And Bailey himself sounded similar themes to his 2022 campaign, focused on economic issues and crime, and promising to “keep harmful content out of the classroom,” without specifying what he considered “harmful.”
Bailey’s announcement Thursday marks the third consecutive major race for the ex-state lawmaker.
He narrowly lost his Republican primary challenge last year against veteran U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro for the GOP nomination in the 12th Congressional District, which covers nearly the bottom third of the state.
Key to Bost’s victory was an endorsement from Donald Trump months before the Republican president was elected to his second term in the White House. But Trump has also supported Bailey in the past, endorsing him over five other candidates when Bailey soundly won the 2022 GOP nomination for governor.
But Bailey lost to Pritzker 55% to 42% in the general election after the Democratic governor, a billionaire, helped engineer Bailey’s GOP primary victory by funneling millions of dollars of ads to the Democratic Governors Association, which promoted the Republican’s conservatism. Pritzker’s camp believed Bailey to be the easiest candidate to beat.
James Patrick of Williamson County listens as former state Sen. Darren Bailey announces his Republican primary bid for governor with running mate Aaron Del Mar, Sept. 25, 2025, at Turner’s Table in Carterville. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Democratic groups on Thursday responded to Bailey’s announcement by using a familiar term from the last governor’s race, describing him as “extreme” in his views.
By entering the governor’s race again, Bailey will automatically have more name recognition among Republican primary voters than the rest of the early field. Other contenders include DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and Ted Dabrowski of Wilmette. A former vice president of the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute and former president of the conservative-leaning research and advocacy group Wirepoints, Dabrowski has already contributed more than $250,000 to his campaign and is likely Bailey’s most prominent opponent.
But it is questionable how the Bailey-Del Mar ticket’s upstate-downstate strategy will work to blunt some of Bailey’s positions, particularly in the Chicago suburbs, where moderate women are a key demographic for winning statewide.
Bailey’s rural, evangelical Christian-rooted campaign and his allegiance to Trump clashed with suburban voters, particularly his opposition to abortion rights. In his first bid for governor, for instance, he compared the deaths from abortion to the millions of Jews killed during the Holocaust in World War II.
Bailey also raised eyebrows when he urged people to “move on” and “celebrate” the Fourth of July shortly after a fatal shooting at a parade in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more hurt, even as the gunman at the time remained at large.
Aside from speaking out against gun control measures, he’s decried “woke” school curricula that incorporate LGBTQ teachings and, despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Bailey has previously said election integrity is “another big problem” in Illinois following Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Aaron Del Mar, right, greets people after announcing his bid for lieutenant governor with former state Sen. Darren Bailey in the Republican primary, Sept. 25, 2025, at Turner’s Table in Carterville. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
On Thursday, Bailey didn’t back down from his characterization of Chicago as a “hellhole” in his 2022 race in criticizing the city’s violence and the perception that Democrats like Pritzker are soft on crime. Nor did he back off a recent statement on social media that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be held in contempt and jailed if they “try to block” Trump “from bringing safety to Chicago.” Trump’s threats of deploying the National Guard to the city have drawn the opposition of Pritzker, Johnson and other Democratic leaders.
“President Trump’s trying to offer some help and the mayor and the governor want to resist that. They are putting lives at stake,” Bailey said Thursday.
Del Mar, who was the lieutenant governor candidate of businessman Gary Rabine’s unsuccessful 2022 GOP primary campaign, echoed Bailey’s criticism of the two Democratic leaders.
“If JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson would stop blaming other people for their failed policies and the results that have come from them, and start looking for new opportunities, and if the federal government wants to help them, and the White House wants to help them,” Del Mar said, “why would you turn help away when it doesn’t cost anybody in Illinois a dollar?”
Bailey’s state campaign fund had $2,805 in it as of July 1, along with debts of nearly $317,000 from personal loans he and his wife made to the 2022 campaign. His federal campaign fund from last year’s congressional bid ended 2024 with only $1.18 in the bank and nearly $215,000 in debts.
In his announcement Thursday, Bailey sought to avoid mention of controversial social issues and said his campaign would focus on “simply too high of taxes, no opportunity and affordability.”
In his stump speech, Bailey indicated he would be running against Pritzker’s wealth because he “lives in a completely different world” and has “nothing in common” with everyday voters.
When Bailey discussed the issue of affordability, he tried to put the onus for higher costs on Pritzker rather than Trump’s tariff policies and continued inflation that the president had vowed to fix since taking office again for his second term in January.
“Four years ago, when I decided to run, I decided to run because you deserve a voice,” he said of his rural southern Illinois base. “Today, as we announce, and we begin this journey again, it is because you deserve a future. And that future is coming, friends.”
Bailey’s campaign kickoff also included a stop in Bloomington.
Pearson reported from Chicago and Petrella reported from Oak Brook.
Originally Published: September 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM CDT