Defeated for governor last year, Darren Bailey sets his sights on Congress and a downstate GOP primary with Mike Bost

Nearly eight months after Illinois voters handily rejected his candidacy for governor, Darren Bailey announced Tuesday his bid for Congress in downstate’s massive 12th District, setting up an intense Republican primary battle against veteran U.S. Rep. Mike Bost.

Bailey’s announcement came a year to the day of one of the biggest self-inflicted stumbles he made in his gubernatorial campaign. While the gunman was still on the loose during the mass shooting that killed seven people at Highland Park’s Fourth of July Parade, Bailey on Facebook urged people to “move on and let’s celebrate — celebrate the independence of this nation.”

On Tuesday, as Highland Park marked a day of remembrance and Bailey made his campaign announcement at his family farm in Xenia, his Facebook page featured a banner with the words, “Hands off my AR” superimposed over a semi-automatic weapon of the type used in the mass shooting.

In his brief nine-minute campaign announcement, Bailey vowed to fight “a storm of woke nonsense that is eroding our values” and “undermining our principles.”

“I refuse to stand by while the radical left rips apart the very fabric of our society. Together, we must rise up and fight back against this assault on our freedoms,” he said. “We will not be silenced. We will not surrender. Together, we will take back our country and take back our voice.”

Bailey made no direct mention of Bost or the potential for a contentious primary contest, instead referring to a quest for “unity and restoration” of common sense and “embracing the values that have guided us for centuries.” He also attacked unnamed “weak-kneed politicians who refuse to stand up and fight.”

But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, who effectively controls the National Republican Congressional Committee, made it clear the House GOP establishment is backing Bost, a five-term congressman from Murphysboro. Bost was a reliable supporter of McCarthy in the contentious intraparty battle over the speakership in January after Republicans gained control of the House in last year’s midterm elections.

“Mike Bost is focused on delivering conservative results for southern Illinois and that’s why voters will reelect him,” NRCC spokesman Chris Gustafson said in a statement. Gustafson said Bailey got “blown out” by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker last November and “now he’s back seeking another political promotion.”

Bailey’s opposition to gun control, pandemic mandates and abortion and LGBTQ+ rights were popular with Republican primary voters last year, and the former state legislator won the GOP nomination for governor with more than 57% of the vote in a six-candidate field. He actively sought and earned a late endorsement from former President Donald Trump and was helped by millions of dollars donated by conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest.

But his rural, regionally supported positions on social issues, backed by his evangelical conservative ideology, proved anathema to voters in the most populous portion of the state — Chicago and the suburbs. That was especially the case for suburban women after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of legalized abortion to the individual states just days before the June 28 primary.

During his tenure in the legislature, a seat he was forced to give up in running for governor, Bailey was associated with members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right downstate Republican lawmakers. In the state legislature in 2019, he co-sponsored legislation to separate Chicago from the rest of the state, and during his run for governor he referred to the state’s largest city as a “hellhole” and an “unruly child.”

Bailey lost the Nov. 8 general election to Pritzker who received nearly 55% of the statewide vote compared with the Republican’s 42.4%.

Unlike his statewide bid for governor, Bailey, 57, is now running in firm Republican territory in seeking to challenge Bost, 62. The 12th Congressional District covers all or part of 34 of the state’s 102 counties and geographically represents roughly the southern third of the state. Gubernatorial results from the 12th District showed Bailey won 72% of the vote to Pritzker’s 25%.

Even before losing to Pritzker, Bailey had expressed interest in making a congressional bid against Bost as his next political move. And while he downplayed Trump’s support in the general election for governor, he renewed cultivating the former president’s backing, even going to Trump’s post-indictment speech at the Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on June 14 and saying “it was an honor to stand beside” him.

“Friends, they’re going to attack me and spread lies just like they did in our race for governor and just like they continue to do with President Trump. But just like President Trump, I will not back down, and I will never stop fighting for you,” Bailey told supporters.

Bost, a Marine Corps veteran and a former state legislator, also was a strong congressional supporter of Trump during the former president’s single term. He earned his endorsement for reelection to Congress last year, with Trump calling him a “terrific” representative for the district.

Since winning election to Congress in 2014 with 53% of the vote, Bost has only faced primary opposition once and won with 83.5% of the vote. He serves as chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in the GOP-controlled House.

Bost told supporters on Monday that his campaign has raised over $450,000 in the last 90 days and now exceeds $1 million in cash on hand.

“I’m confident we’ve got the resources to prepare for any challenge ahead of us and a proven, conservative record of results that positions us quite well for the upcoming campaign season. Thank you, Southern Illinois!” Bost posted on Twitter.

Bailey reported $29,394 in his state campaign fund, along with more than $316,000 in debts in loans mainly to himself and from family members, at the end of March.

But Bailey cannot use any of the state funds to run for federal office, and federal limits and rules on donations from individuals are much tighter than state rules. Still, outside independent groups similar to those that worked on Bailey’s behalf for governor could serve as moneyed allies in his bid for Congress.

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