SE Illinois News

Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) disapproves of the Aurora mayor's strategy to win the gubernatorial race.

Bailey and Richard Irvin are both GOP gubernatorial candidates, yet Irvin has been dubbed a "Career Democrat" whom Bailey reasons "Irvin's lying campaign has been trying to mislead you about my conservative record."    

“On the one hand he is spreading falsehoods about me and my record all of the while pretending to be a Trump supporter when he clearly is not,” Bailey said in a statement to SE Illinois News. “I don’t really care what Richard Irvin’s view on President [Donald] Trump are. I just think he needs to be honest with voters about who he is and what he believes. That is kind of a basic part of running a campaign.” 

Bailey urges voters to discern who is fighting for them. He underscored who Irvin is standing up for.

“If he is not being truthful about his views of President Donald Trump, what else is he not being truthful about?" he said. "Voters don’t need another politician who instead of interacting with and talking to voters chooses to hide behind virtually unlimited resources to shape their own version of reality. We already have that in JB Pritzker and we don’t need a Democrat light version of JB Pritzker in the Republican Party. Voters deserve a candidate who will be honest and tell the truth about their positions on the issues important to the people. They deserve better than Richard Irvin.”

While Irvin said he did not remember sending a series of texts containing comments against Trump, Grundy Reporter previously reported that in those texts, Irvin called the former president a "bigot," adding "I hate Trump too!" and "He’s an idiot!!!" Conservative activists are calling the comments disqualifying.

The revelation comes weeks after Irvin questioned the conservative credentials of opponents Bailey, one of the most conservative members of the Illinois General Assembly, and downstate tech entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan, according to Politico. 

Bailey has also been the target of Irvin's campaign mailers claiming that the senator voted for Barack Obama, SE Illinois reported. The ads have been scorned for their hypocrisy given Irvin’s long voting record, ties to Democrat fundraisers, and open support for Black Lives Matter while his city was being looted. 

North Cook News reported that the leaked texts come after weeks of questionable ethics on behalf of the Irvin campaign. Prominent supporter and Republican National Committeeman for Illinois Richard Porter was accused of stuffing the ballot box in favor of Irvin at the Northfield Township Republican Organization endorsement meeting. Any endorsement was called off after questions arose.

The Irvin campaign is accused of "rigging" a Republican primary straw poll in Lake County by busing in elderly people related to a political operator, Lake County Gazette reported.

Bailey, along with Sullivan, Irvin, McHenry County businessman Gary Rabine, former state senator Paul Schimpf, Max Solomon, and Emily Johnson, are among the GOP candidates for governor. The primary election will take place on June 28.