Darren Bailey Wins Republican Primary For Illinois Governor

ILLINOIS — State Sen. Darren Bailey has been called the projected winner of the Republican primary for Illinois governor, according to CNN and the Associated Press. With about 95 percent of votes accounted for, the candidate has so far received 442,315 votes, or 54.9 percent.

"Tonight sent a clear message to the establishment and the political elites," Bailey said in a speech post-win. "We will not be ignored."

The downstate Illinois farmer partly credited his win to voters who "know that Illinois is in trouble" due to "decade after decade of mismanagement in Springfield [and] back-to-back billionaire governors who don't understand the struggles of working people."

"They say our fate's set, that a farmer can't be a billionaire," Bailey said Tuesday night. "Friends, the funny thing is: these same people said that we couldn't win the primary. We were outspent by tens of millions of dollars in the primary, and look what happened tonight. This is how it's done. Our movement is growing. When people show up in November like you showed up tonight, we will win."

A field of six Republican gubernatorial candidates squared off in Tuesday's Illinois primary election, with the winner advancing to a November showdown against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was projected to be the winner of the Democratic primary by AP around 7:30 p.m. Beverly Miles, a retired U.S. Army major, nurse at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and former Chicago aldermanic candidate, challenged the incumbent governor in the primary but came away with less than 10 percent of the vote, according to unofficial tallies.

Bailey, who has led in most polling leading up to the election, faced Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, along with businessmen Jesse Sullivan and Gary Rabine, attorney Max Solomon and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf.

In a speech conceding the race, Irvin said: "Pritzker stopped us from winning tonight, but he couldn't stop us from changing so many hearts and minds around the state. People are fed up with the crime and the taxes and the corruption, and I believe we are ready to rise up and take back Illinois. As Americans, we must ask ourselves a critical question: Is government serving us or is government ruling us? If the answer is the latter, we must rise up. We must rise up!"

The polls closed at 7 p.m. throughout the state, though six Cook County precincts remained open an extra hour due to a delayed start.

Here's a look at the vote totals for each Republican candidate in the 2022 primary election. So far, 95 percent of the expected vote was accounted for as of 10:50 a.m. Wednesday. (Unofficial results via CNN. Refresh for updates as results come in).

• Bailey: 442,315 votes / 54.9 percent
• Irvin: 151,193 votes / 18.8 percent
• Sullivan: 121,293 votes / 15.1 percent
• Rabine: 51,029 votes / 6.3 percent
• Schimpf: 29,778 votes / 3.7 percent
• Solomon: 9,379 votes / 1.2 percent

As of 7:30 p.m., AP called Pritzker the winner of the Democratic primary. With 26.1 percent of votes counted at the time, the incumbent Illinois governor received 255,565 votes (or 92.5 percent) versus Miles's 20,716 (or 7.5 percent).

The Republican candidate to win Tuesday's primary election will face off against Pritzker during the Nov. 8 general election.

ILLINOIS' PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS

• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• U.S. Senate
• 1st Congressional District
• 6th Congressional District
• 8th Congressional District
• 11th Congressional District
• 14th Congressional District

Each of the leading candidates sought to unseat the nation's wealthiest elected official — as the heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune, Pritzker has a net worth of $3.6 billion — and has the backing of their own billionaire financier.

Bailey picked up former President Donald Trump's endorsement at a rally Saturday in Quincy. Bailey, 56, has campaigned on a complete return to normalcy and reopening of the economy, opposition to taxpayer funding of abortions, gun owner advocacy, educational reform and lower taxes.

Irvin received the aid of $50 million in backing from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who was the state's richest man until recently moving to Florida. Irvin, a 52-year-old two-term suburban mayor, has focused his campaign on reducing crime, taxes and corruption.

Besides Bailey and Irvin, Sullivan was the only other candidate to break into double-digit support in polls. During his campaign, the 38-year-old CEO of venture capital firm Alter Global emphasized his Christian faith and opposition to abortion while touting his experience working as a civilian for Defense Department operations in Afghanistan.

Gary Rabine, 59, is a Bull Valley resident and CEO of Schaumburg-based Rabine Paving, which he purchased from his father in 1994 and grew to a multimillion-dollar operation. Among his goals was to make Illinois "the state by 2025 where more people are moving into our state than any other state in America."

Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf, 51, spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and served as the lead American attorney adviser to Iraqi prosecutors in the trial of Saddam Hussein before his televised 2006 execution, according to his website. In the debate, he said things stay the same in Illinois "because it's the same mega-donors, the same political operatives, it's the same special interest groups. I'm not beholden to any of those."

Max Solomon, an attorney, actor, former power-lifting champion and flight enthusiast, was also on the Republican ballot. The 51-year-old's campaign listed parental choice in education, economic empowerment and stopping crime as his priorities.

Read more: 6 Challengers In Illinois Republican Primary Look To Unseat Pritzker