Pritzker Defeats Bailey, Wins Reelection As Illinois Governor

CHICAGO — Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker secured a second term in office with a victory over Xenia Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey Tuesday.

Pritzker was projected as the winner by newswires almost immediately after polls closed, but it remains to be seen whether Pritzker's margin of victory will exceed the more than 14 percentage points by which Pritzker defeated his Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner.

As midnight approached on election night, Pritzker held a 13-point lead with 21 percent of the vote still outstanding. Find unofficial results updated below as votes continue to be counted in the 2022 midterms in Illinois.

The governor addressed supporters in Chicago after the Associated Press and the New York Times called the race in his favor.

"Two the nation's biggest MAGA Republican billionaires, along with their teams of political grifters, they spewed lies and innuendo, and you showed them that Illinois is a state that stands up for working families and rejects their selfish agenda," Pritzker said, in an apparent reference to Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein and the super PACs they have financed.

The governor's victory speech focused less on his plans for the next four years in Illinois and more on national politics, doing little to quell speculation of Pritzker's presidential ambitions should President Joe Biden be unable or unwilling to seek his own second term.

"Precisely when the battles are hard and the challenges many, that's when the spelunkers for misery feed off the dark fears that people harbor in difficult times," Pritzker said. "And that is the moment when a happy warrior can carry us forward and says, 'I've been in this dark place before and I know the way out.'"

Pritzker cited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and recent hammer attack on the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

"There's no nice or easy way to say this, but until the Republican Party is ready to expel the extremists in their midst, we need to do it for them at the ballot box," he said.

Pritzker said it was inappropriate to fly a "moderate flag" from one's front porch while dining with "insurrectionists" in one's back yard.

"Don't claim that the Republican Party is being labeled unfairly, because here we are two years into clearing up the wreckage of the Trump presidency, poised to watch this man announce his return to national politics within days," he said, to boos from the crowd.

"You know why? Because GOP politicians with the exception of only a few souls are too cowardly, too simpering to support the best interests of the nation, because they're afraid of being called insulting nicknames by a whiny bully," the governor said.

"To the fake patriots and their enablers: you don't love the United States if you're not willing to defend it against a man who would destroy it. Donald Trump is the modern embodiment of tyranny that our founders feared the most," he continued. "So don't lecture us about norms or typical practices. Against a party that nominates and endorses antisemites and racists and anti-immigrant zealots, appeasement and complacency do not work. I know, my family fled that kind of tyranny and I helped survivors build a Holocaust museum. You know what works? Winning works."

A little over two hours after the close of voting, Bailey addressed supporters in Springfield, telling them that he had spoken to Pritzker and congratulated him on his reelection.

"This is not part of the speech, but there's still room for a miracle, friends," Bailey said. "Still room for a miracle until all the votes are counted. But from what we know, tonight didn't turn out the way we wanted, but thanks to God we still have so many blessings."

Bailey said he planned to get back to work in the state senate.

"My priorities will continue to be the things that unite us: protecting our freedoms, bringing jobs to our state and safety to our streets," he said. "Republicans need to be the loyal opposition in Springfield. Loyal to our state, loyal to our country, loyal to our constitution, but in opposition to the radical policies of the Democrats."

After setting the self-financing record by spending more than $161 million of his own money on his first run for governor for years ago, Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt fortune, spent more than $150 million of his own cash in his reelection bid.

In the home stretch of the campaign, Pritzker began broadcasting television ads with former President Barack Obama and rallied with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He has aimed to portray his opponent as too extreme for the state, highlighting Bailey's outspoken opposition to abortion rights and firearm regulations.

Bailey's campaign had comparably less cash to toss around, although it has been supported by tens of millions of dollars worth of advertisements financed by another billionaire — Lake Forest shipping supply magnate Richard Uihlein.

Most of the advertisements produced by Uihlein's independent expenditure committee attack Pritzker on the subjects of crime and taxes. The group, People Who Play By The Rules PAC, is run by Florida-based radio host and political operative Dan Proft.

Since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois, Bailey has been a prominent critic of the governor's policies. A state representative at the time, he took Pritzker to court following the first extension of the governor's stay-at-home order and initially won a restraining order that restricted state officials from enforcing the order on him.

State and federal judges would go on to uphold most of Pritzker's pandemic policies, until a Sangamon County judge tossed out a statewide mask mandate for schools.

Bailey refused to wear a mask when state lawmakers returned to Springfield for a four-day special session at the Bank of Springfield in May 2020 — the first since the start of the pandemic. He was escorted out on the first day, with some Republican legislators voting along with Democrats to remove him from the premises. Bailey returned for the rest of the session and complied with the mask mandate.

The next time the General Assembly met, at a January 2021 special session, Bailey made headlines for collapsing on the House floor. House Republican leader Jim Durkin later attributed the fall to "gastrointestinal issues." Bailey launched his campaign for governor the following month, going on to win about 57 percent of the vote in a six-way GOP primary in June.

Pritzker's spending supported Bailey in the primary. Through the Democratic Governors Association, Pritzker financed attack ads against Bailey's primary opponent who was perceived as the greater threat in a general elections, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. The group also financed spots claiming Bailey was "too conservative," which appeared to have boosted the primary prospects of the Southern Illinois farmer and first-term state senator.

The Libertarian Party nominee, Scott Schluter, is projected to finish third when vote-counting is complete. Schluter is the longtime chair of the Southern Illinois Libertarian Party, a diesel technician and an Iraq War veteran.