Illinois governor’s race will be a rematch in 2026
[March 18, 2026]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD – Republican voters in Illinois have once again chosen
former state Sen. Darren Bailey as their candidate for governor, giving
him a second chance to unseat incumbent Democrat JB Pritzker in
November.
Bailey, a farmer from southern Illinois and the party’s 2022 nominee,
claimed victory Tuesday night in a four-way primary for the GOP
nomination, defeating Ted Dabrowski, former head of the conservative
policy website Wirepoints.
According to unofficial returns compiled by the Associated Press, Bailey
had carried about 50% of the vote as about 8:35 p.m. when the race was
called. Dabrowski garnered about 32%.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a Springfield hotel Tuesday night
as his lead grew, Bailey immediately began calling for party unity.
“This primary is over,” he said. “Regardless of who you voted for,
regardless of our past differences, this election is bigger than all of
that. We must join together to stop another four years of billionaire
leadership that doesn’t understand your life, your bills, or your
struggle.”
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and businessman Rick Heidner, who
spent more than $1 million of his own money on the campaign, each had
under 10% when the race was called.
Four years ago, Bailey won the nomination with 57% of the vote in a
crowded race that also featured Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and venture
capitalist Jesse Sullivan.
In that campaign, Bailey had the endorsement of then-former President
Donald Trump. But many observers noted he also had backhanded help from
the Pritzker campaign, which viewed him as a weaker candidate than the
better-financed Irvin.
Pritzker funded ads that, on the surface, appeared to criticize Bailey
but which subtly targeted the GOP’s conservative base by asserting that
Bailey was “too conservative” for Illinois.
Bailey went on to lose the general election, 55% to 42%, after Pritzker
swept Cook County and most of the collar counties
Two years later, he tried unsuccessfully to unseat fellow Republican
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost in the 12th District, narrowly losing that primary
by less than 3,000 votes.
Bailey announced his plan to run for governor again in September, vowing
to run a different campaign that would focus more on Chicago and its
suburbs. That started with choosing Cook County Republican Party
Chairman Aaron Del Mar as his running mate.
“Aaron definitely brings a whole bunch of stuff to the table,” Crystal
Bell, a Bailey supporter from Beardstown, said in an interview Tuesday
night. “The dynamic duo, is what I call them.”
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Darren Bailey celebrates with running mate Aaron Del Mar after
securing the Republican nomination for governor in the 2026 general
election. He will once again face Gov. JB Pritzker after losing by
over 12 points in 2022. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter
Hancock)
Barely a month after announcing his candidacy, however, Bailey suffered
a family tragedy that could have ended his campaign when his son
Zacharay, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were all killed in a
helicopter crash in Montana.
But Bailey chose to stay in the race, “not for politics, but for every
family trying to make it in a state that’s lost its way, for every
parent who dreams of a better future for their children and for every
Illinoisan who knows that we can do better.”
Although Trump did not issue a formal endorsement this time around,
Bailey made it clear that he would model his administration after the
current president, vowing to set up a DOGE-like commission to root out
waste and inefficiency in state government.
But speaking to supporters Tuesday night, Bailey also began to put some
distance between himself from Trump.
“You’re going to hear JB Pritzker and his Democrat allies try to compare
me to Donald Trump and use some pretty mean words while doing it,” he
said. “Well, there are things that I agree with Donald Trump about, and
there are things that I disagree with him about. I am my own man. But
when Trump is right, we’re going to try to do those things in Illinois.”
Dabrowski, meanwhile, campaigned on the idea that he was the more
electable candidate, arguing that Bailey’s poor performance in the
suburbs four years ago was an omen that he could never win a statewide
general election.
“Victory runs through the suburbs,” Dabrowski said in his final TV ad of
the primary campaign. “Darren Bailey is a disaster in the suburbs. It’s
why Pritzker wanted to run against him four years ago and does again.”
But Sheldon Schulte, a Bailey supporter from Vandalia, said Tuesday that
if more southern Illinois Republicans had turned out in 2022, Bailey
would have won the race.
“People do not get out and turn out,” he said in an interview. “I mean,
all we needed was 15% more people in southern Illinois to show up and we
would have won. They just won’t get out and vote. They like to sit
around a coffee shop and bitch. They don’t want to get out and vote. I
don’t understand.
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