On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, first profiled Darren Bailey, the 2022 GOP gubernatorial challenger to Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who emerged from a crowded primary after serving one term in the Illinois House of Representatives, and one in the Illinois State Senate, respectively. Most of Bailey’s rise to fame/infamy centers around him having run on a campaign touting his successful lawsuit against the sitting governor, where he tried preventing actions taken to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in the courts, as well as being such an obstinate schmuck about mask or vaccine mandates that he was thrown out of a session of the state legislature for refusing to wear a mask.
He also had the endorsement of Donald Trump, likely earning that by having supported “The Big Lie” and claiming that Trump’s conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud were accurate. How did the campaign go for Bailey after he announced his run, though?Well, let’s see… the main talking point that Republicans offer up after mass shootings is typically that their thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, which does nothing to solve the problem of gun violence in the United States, and frankly at this point, is as much empathy as any member of the GOP seems to be able to show. After the Highland Park Parade Shooting on the Fourth of July, only hours after the tragedy, Bailey acknowledged that the shooter was still at large, but that people needed to “move on and let’s celebrate- celebrate the independence of this nation”.
That’s hardly his only gaffe. Darren Bailey is staunchly anti-choice, and is opposed to abortion even in cases of rape or incest or if the mother’s life is in danger. But if that wasn’t enough to trip him up on the issue, he added some anti-Semitism into the mix, as in August of 2022, a Facebook video emerged of Bailey in 2017 comparing abortion to the Holocaust.
”The Jewish community themselves have told me that I’m right. That ad went out a day before we met with the Jewish, a day after we met with the Jewish community.” Several Chicago rabbis came forward to condemn Bailey’s remarks, and he fell even farther behind in polls, where he was already struggling in spite of having a billionaire cardboard box magnate funding his campaign. Darren Bailey lost in the 2022 election to J.B. Pritzker, getting just 42% of the vote.While our hope would have been that he’d just bugger off and fade into obscurity, he instead has chosen to enter to GOP Primary for the U.S. House seat for Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, hoping to unseat “Meltdown Mike” Bost. If Bailey can win that primary, he’ll have a +24 Republican lean to coast to Washington, D.C., and take his extremist views to a national audience. And he’s not getting better, considering he’ll upload a video to Youtube, unprompted, where he’ll declare he will commit suicide by cop before he ever lets anyone take his guns away.No one’s actually coming for his guns, but this moron is getting every domestic terrorist on the hard right ready to go out in a hail of bullets while potentially killing the cops that are just coming to enforce firearms laws. And Darren Bailey thinks that makes him Congressional material. For the GOP’s current incarnation… sadly, he does fit in.
One Year Ago, November 7th, 2022: Darren Bailey (IL)… Original Profile
Two Years Ago, November 7th, 2021: Del Marsh (AL)
Three Years Ago, November 7th, 2020: Mike Walsworth (LA)
Four Years Ago, November 7th, 2019: Martha Roby (AL)… 2019 Update
Five Years Ago, November 7th, 2018: Martha Roby (AL)… 2018 Update
Six Years Ago, November 7th, 2017: Martha Roby (AL)… 2017 Update
Seven Year Ago, November 7th, 2016: Martha Roby (AL)… 2016 Update
Eight Years Ago, November 7th, 2015: Martha Roby (AL)… Original Profile
Nine Years Ago, November 7th, 2014: J.D. Hayworth (AZ)