FIRST: Darren Bailey claims, “Donald Trump has nothing to do with me running for governor.”
Chicago Tribune: Trump backs Darren Bailey for Illinois governor as GOP candidate has sought to distance himself from president
In making his second bid for governor, Bailey has sought to sideline Trump as an issue and focus on state issues to build support in the voter-rich suburbs, which have moved increasingly Democratic in part because of the president’s unpopularity there.
“Donald Trump has nothing to do with me running for governor,” Bailey told one reporter who asked about the Republican’s active cultivation of the president’s backing, including frequent visits to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, during the 2022 governor race.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey seeks distance from Trump, but MAGA shadow looms
After Darren Bailey last month won the Illinois Republican Party nomination for governor, he quickly tried to separate himself from President Donald Trump, declaring, “I am my own person” and that “there will be no outside influence dictating anything that we do here in Illinois.”
Yet less than two weeks later, there was Bailey, sitting across from Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump inside Chicago’s Trump International Hotel & Tower. In an interview for her Fox News show, Bailey urged the president’s U.S. Justice Department or the FBI to come to Illinois to investigate “waste and fraud at massive levels” without offering any proof.
THEN: Donald Trump endorses Darren Bailey and says he’s “all for Bailey.”
Chicago Sun-Times: President Trump endorses Darren Bailey in Illinois governor race — ‘Pritzker’s a disaster’
President Donald Trump says he’s “all for Bailey” once again in the Illinois governor race, handing Republican firebrand Darren Bailey an endorsement that’s unlikely to do the former downstate legislator many favors as he tries to court Chicago-area moderates in his rematch against incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.
Speaking to reporters Sunday before returning from a trip to Ireland, Trump said of his longtime supporter: “I’ve already endorsed him. I’m all for Bailey.”
Capital News Illinois: Trump: ‘I’m all for Bailey’
President Donald Trump this week reiterated his support for Illinois Republican gubernational nominee Darren Bailey, declaring that he’s “already endorsed him” and he’s “all for Bailey.”
Trump’s support is no surprise. He endorsed Bailey’s campaign in 2022, and the downstate farmer promised to “roll the red carpet out” for the president if he won.
NOW: Darren Bailey enthusiastically accepts Trump endorsement and defends him from criticism.
WGN: Bailey responds to Trump endorsement as Pritzker campaign continues attack ads
Darren Bailey: “I support [Donald Trump]. He’s a business person. […] I know him. I think he’s a smart individual. I think he’s a good man. But I know he’s got this past that everybody else wants to focus on, and the President Trump that I know isn’t that person.”
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