After losing to Pritzker, Bailey using Miller playbook in attempt to join her in Congress

Darren Bailey likes the spotlight.

Bailey, a Republican state senator from Xenia, made his bones by being one of the more adamant anti-COVID voices in Illinois during the pandemic.

He was removed from a legislative session held in Springfield’s BOS Center, the downtown arena/exhibition hall, for not wearing a mask. He also sued the state over the continued stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. He ran on that issue in his campaign when he lost to Democratic incumbent JB Pritzker in the governor’s race in 2022.

Bailey is going after another incumbent in 2024. This time, it’s one from his own party: Congressman Mike Bost (R-12) from Murphysboro.

Our local Congresswoman, Mary Miller (R-15), is supporting Bailey over her colleague Bost. After Illinois lost a U.S. House seat via redistricting in 2022, Miller decided to not run against Bost (despite living in his district) and ran instead against Congressman Rodney Davis of Taylorville.

Rep. Miller issued a statement to Illinois Review offering her support for Bailey: “Chris and I have been close friends of Darren and Cindy Bailey for many years, and I have seen firsthand how Darren is guided by his faith to serve God and help others. Darren is MAGA to his core, and I was so honored when President Trump came to Illinois last year for a rally to endorse me and Darren as pro-Trump, America First candidates in 2022.”

As the congresswoman said, they are friends. Bailey also served with Miller’s husband, Chris, in the Illinois House as both men were elected in 2018. Bailey then ran for the Illinois Senate in 2020 and Illinois governor in 2022 before deciding to run for Congress.

Is it a stretch to say Miller’s decision to run against Davis instead of Bost was in part due to the chance to leave the Bost seat open for Bailey to pursue just in case he didn’t beat Pritzker in 2022? (Pritzker beat Bailey by nearly 500,000 votes — or about 12 percentage points. Bailey might have had an idea he was going to lose.)

Bailey is going with the Miller playbook to beat Bost. He has called him an establishment RINO (Republican in Name Only), bashing Bost’s “liberal” voting record and pledging fealty to former President Donald Trump, the tough guy who doesn’t have the cojones to debate his opponents.

While most of Illinois is geographically red, the big blue dot of Chicago and the smaller blue dots in Metro East and many college towns still have the majority of people and votes, which is why Democrats have all of the statewide offices and super majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

Miller thrashed Davis, a 10-term Congressman and a long-time aide for Republican Congressman John Shimkus, in 2022. Davis was positioned for a high-ranking leadership position, possibly chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. That mattered little to a majority of voters of the new 15th District after Miller and her allies painted him as just another Washington sellout.

Miller’s voting record is as conservative as it gets, which does placate the base who voted her in. She also voted the way MAGA-nation would expect regarding the events of Jan. 6. Some would call it insurrection. Some would call it treason. Some would call it a peaceful demonstration.

I’ll let you decide where you stand.

A few major projects in our area (most involve Mississippi River issues) need federal funding. Those could be in jeopardy if she is going to refuse earmarks or work across the aisle with Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

Miller has a local district office in Quincy but has unfortunately adopted the practice of sneaking into town and only speaking at what her camp would consider “friendly” events. Her office used to regularly offer interviews with Muddy River News and let us know when she was coming to town. It’s been crickets for a while from the congresswoman.

But, hey, we’re getting plenty of Bailey for Congress e-mails.

Bost and Davis aren’t RINOs. They aren’t liberals. However, those are the buzzwords you use when you try to out-Trump your Republican allies for personal gain. The former President still has a lot of cache in downstate Illinois (and much of the country, as well).

The problem with having an anti-establishment mentality is you can’t/won’t/don’t govern when you do win an election. If your schtick is to burn down the whole damn thing, I guess you’ve achieved your goal.

Bost is as conservative as they come, so if Bailey beats him, it probably doesn’t move the Congressional needle much when it comes to most votes.

It just gives Bailey that bigger megaphone he always seems to be searching for.

J. Robert Gough is the publisher/general manager for Muddy River News.