Del Mar: And then JB Pritzker goes on yesterday, I wanted to choke him through the television when he was talking with Darren. He says ‘we’ve raised the minimum raised, we’ve raised the minimum wage.’ Right you’ve raised the minimum wage but then you’ve raised every other fee: property tax, the sales tax, income tax. Everything else. You’re paying people half-off double list price.
Stevens: Now you have to be careful. Because I know based on what we get from feedback on our show. They listen closely to us. And now there’s going to be a campaign commercial going: “Aaron Del Mar wants to choke JB Pritzker.”
[Laughter]
Del Mar: Well look, when Darren Bailey becomes governor of Illinois. When we set a whole new record here in Illinois, voter turnout for conservatives and Republicans and Darren gets sworn in. Will we work across the aisle, 100 percent. We will reach across the aisle and shake their hand. But when they don’t want to cooperate, we will reach across the aisle and grab them by the throat.
Governor JB Pritzker to Get Out the Vote in Cook and Kane Counties
WHAT: Governor JB Pritzker will speak at a canvass kickoff event with State Representative Suzanne Ness and Michele Clark, candidate for Illinois State Senate in Kane County.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 20, 2026. 4:00 PM CT.
WHERE: Michele Clark’s Campaign HQ, 611 East Main Street, Suite 224, East Dundee, IL 60118
WHAT: Governor JB Pritzker will deliver remarks and encourage voters to head to the polls with State Representative Nabeela Syed; Jenny Levin and Maria Peterson, candidates for Illinois House of Representatives; and Carina Santa Maria, candidate for Illinois State Senate.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 20, 2026. 6:00 PM CT.
WHERE: Hot Pockets Sports Bar, 365 West Northwest Highway, Palatine, IL 60067.
* Lake County Democrats…
A Deer Park resident has filed a complaint with the Deer Park Ethics Commission alleging that Village officials and employees used the Village’s official Facebook page to sell tickets to a partisan Republican campaign event.
On October 12, the Village of Deer Park’s Facebook page published a post inviting residents to a “November Ballot Candidate Forum Luncheon” hosted by the Cuba Township Republicans at Biltmore Country Club in North Barrington, held Saturday, October 17. The post featured a graphic headed “PURCHASE TICKETS,” linked to an Eventbrite ticket page, and encouraged residents to attend before early voting began on October 19. The post did not reference any event hosted by another party or by a nonpartisan organization.
State ethics law, adopted in the Village’s ethics ordinance, prohibits public officials and employees from using public resources to solicit ticket purchases for political events, and an intentional violation is a Class A misdemeanor.
The complaint asks the Ethics Commission to preserve all records related to the post, identify the officials and employees responsible, refer the matter for prosecution, and recommend appropriate discipline.
Republican State Senator Darby Hills, who represents the 26th Senate District, attended the luncheon. On September 20, Hills withdrew from the September 26 League of Women Voters candidate forum with her Democratic opponent Nabeela Syed, citing a scheduling conflict. That forum was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates.
Nancy Shepherdson, who filed the complaint, said, “Village government belongs to every resident of Deer Park, regardless of party. When the Village uses its official page to sell tickets to a Republican campaign event, it puts the weight of local government behind one party and makes every taxpayer foot the bill. State law prohibits exactly this conduct, and the Village needs to be held accountable.”
Lake County Democratic Party Chair Daniel Didech said, “Darby Hills couldn’t find time to face voters at a nonpartisan League of Women Voters forum, but she made time on Saturday for a Republican luncheon that was illegally promoted with taxpayer resources. Senator Hills has a track record of dodging forums where she would have to answer tough questions. Instead of attending partisan events promoted in violation of state ethics law, she should agree to debate her opponent in front of voters before Election Day.”
The long-simmering feud between Mayor Brandon Johnson and half of the coalition of progressive unions that helped put him in office boiled over Tuesday, triggering a pivotal endorsement for Illlinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias in the race for mayor.
Service Employees International Union Locals 1 and 73 threw their formidable support behind Giannoulias, the presumed frontrunner with a campaign war chest of $19.2 million. SEIU affiliates together contributed over $4.5 million to Johnson’s 2023 mayoral campaign. The union also provided scores of campaign workers and materials.
Those resources will now presumably be available to Giannoulias — and more importantly, denied to Johnson, who has just $379,471 in cash on hand.
SEIU’s decision to divorce itself from Johnson comes as no surprise, and has been building since early 2025. […]
“I understand relationships. I asked him to stand down,” Local 73 President Dian Palmer told the Sun-Times. “We had all kinds of evidence that these workers belonged to us. I told him, `You don’t have to do anything. These are your friends. Just let us go through the grievance process.’ He told me that he would call me back and he never called me back.”
“That was hurtful. I felt like we were fighting for our labor life because this unit is one of the larger units that we have and it would change our life tremendously if we were to lose these members.”
The president can use tax dollars to run campaign ads. He’s not supposed to, but he did, and he hasn’t faced a single consequence for it. Apparently Republicans in general just think it’s okay to use public resources for their campaigns now. We’ll see if/when anyone proves otherwise.
- Benniefly2@yahoo.com - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:39 pm:
=Right you’ve raised the minimum wage but then you’ve raised every other fee: property tax, the sales tax, income tax.=
State Income Tax Rate when Pritzger was elected was 4.95 percent. It is currently 4.95 percent. State sales tax rate when Pritzger was elected was 6.25 percent. It is still 6.25 percent. State property tax rate is 0 percent because all of that is levied locally (City, County, School District, Fire District, Library District, etc). What exactly is the argument that he thinks he is making here?
It’s easy to see why Aaron Del Mar left the Democratic Party some years back. Illinois Democrats didn’t want him. He was never going to go anywhere with much better people on the bench. So he comes over to the GOP and shortly after getting a title, that’s always his sole obsession, he tried to illegally purge all or nearly all of the duly elected Black Republican ward committeemen in Chicago under the pretext “they weren’t Republican enough” despite the fact he himself had recently been a voting member of the Democratic Party. A court stopped his scheme, but Del Mar actually has the nerve to crow this year that he’s the first “person of color” in Illinois GOP leadership despite the fact he unsuccessfully tried to purge lawfully elected Blacks from GOP leadership. Incredible. In Cook County, where Del Mart is supposedly a leader, there is not one Republican on the ballot for countywide office. Other ballot lines also vacant. Yeah, quite the leader. Darren Bailey once again demonstrated his awful judgment and cluelessness by teaming up with this narcissistic goofball.
- Give us Barabbas - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:01 pm:
I just shake my head in sorrow that this is what WLS radio is now. As far as their campaign, they try to appeal to what people think reality is, not anything factual. More troubling to me is that pervasive undercurrent of authoritarianism in all the GOP messaging, seeping into every level of the ticket. Their mindset is all about grievances, real or imagined. Okay, mostly imaginary. But they can’t wait to be in a position to make someone pay. There’s no builders vision there. Only misery.
Not impressed at all with Del Mar’s remarks. The comments re:choking JB and “grabbing them by the throat “ sounds like desperate words from a desperate candidate.
Del Mar is thinking, “why did I agree to join the ticket with Darren Bailey.”
If a Republican statewide candidate in Illinois is to have any chance of being competitive, they have to get the vote of suburban college educated voters. You will not do that by lying to them.
- Pope Leo’s Fast Ball - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:58 pm:
Just here to expertly opine that Mayor Johnson losing 50% of the organized labor (and the energetic SEIU field operation) coalition that got him elected the first time seems…bad?
If I were Johnson’s campaign manager I’d be debating whether it’s worth the effort of dropping off ballot petition signatures this week. I didn’t see a path to the general for him already, & with SEIU endorsing Giannoulias those already-slim odds are on a GLP-1 regimen.
=Right you’ve raised the minimum wage but then you’ve raised every other fee: property tax, the sales tax, income tax. Everything else. You’re paying people half-off double list price.=
Who is going to tell him?
Del Mar is to the governor’s race what a screen door is to a submarine.
I’m truly gonna miss the weird “divorced dad posting Reels of himself driving” Aaron Del Mar video content that I see on Facebook when the Illinois GOP stops putting $200/mo worth of ad spend behind it. Heterosexual camp at its finest.
- Irreverent - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:26 pm:
The president can use tax dollars to run campaign ads. He’s not supposed to, but he did, and he hasn’t faced a single consequence for it. Apparently Republicans in general just think it’s okay to use public resources for their campaigns now. We’ll see if/when anyone proves otherwise.
- Benniefly2@yahoo.com - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:39 pm:
=Right you’ve raised the minimum wage but then you’ve raised every other fee: property tax, the sales tax, income tax.=
State Income Tax Rate when Pritzger was elected was 4.95 percent. It is currently 4.95 percent. State sales tax rate when Pritzger was elected was 6.25 percent. It is still 6.25 percent. State property tax rate is 0 percent because all of that is levied locally (City, County, School District, Fire District, Library District, etc). What exactly is the argument that he thinks he is making here?
- Save Ferris - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:42 pm:
I tried to take a couple of deep breaths, but Aaron Del Mar choked me through the computer monitor.
- The Ford Lawyer - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:54 pm:
“When we set a whole new record here in Illinois, voter turnout for conservatives and Republicans..”
135% turnout?
- oh my - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 12:58 pm:
It’s easy to see why Aaron Del Mar left the Democratic Party some years back. Illinois Democrats didn’t want him. He was never going to go anywhere with much better people on the bench. So he comes over to the GOP and shortly after getting a title, that’s always his sole obsession, he tried to illegally purge all or nearly all of the duly elected Black Republican ward committeemen in Chicago under the pretext “they weren’t Republican enough” despite the fact he himself had recently been a voting member of the Democratic Party. A court stopped his scheme, but Del Mar actually has the nerve to crow this year that he’s the first “person of color” in Illinois GOP leadership despite the fact he unsuccessfully tried to purge lawfully elected Blacks from GOP leadership. Incredible. In Cook County, where Del Mart is supposedly a leader, there is not one Republican on the ballot for countywide office. Other ballot lines also vacant. Yeah, quite the leader. Darren Bailey once again demonstrated his awful judgment and cluelessness by teaming up with this narcissistic goofball.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20160413/news/in-curtain-call-cook-gop-chief-fires-13-committeemen/
- Give us Barabbas - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:01 pm:
I just shake my head in sorrow that this is what WLS radio is now. As far as their campaign, they try to appeal to what people think reality is, not anything factual. More troubling to me is that pervasive undercurrent of authoritarianism in all the GOP messaging, seeping into every level of the ticket. Their mindset is all about grievances, real or imagined. Okay, mostly imaginary. But they can’t wait to be in a position to make someone pay. There’s no builders vision there. Only misery.
- Irreverent - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:02 pm:
That Aaron Del Mar is such a tough guy.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:36 pm:
Not impressed at all with Del Mar’s remarks. The comments re:choking JB and “grabbing them by the throat “ sounds like desperate words from a desperate candidate.
Del Mar is thinking, “why did I agree to join the ticket with Darren Bailey.”
- Amalia - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:53 pm:
Grab em by the…. Fill in the blank for your Republican leader
- Embarrassing - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:53 pm:
Darren Bailey disqualified himself for governor when he chose Aaron Del Mar as his lieutenant governor running mate.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:55 pm:
As Benniefly2 pointed out above, none of the things Del Mar claimed were true.
That leaves either: 1) Gross ignorance about taxes, or 2) Deliberate lying.
Yeah, that’s what I’m looking for in a candidate. /s
- Pundent - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:57 pm:
If a Republican statewide candidate in Illinois is to have any chance of being competitive, they have to get the vote of suburban college educated voters. You will not do that by lying to them.
- Pope Leo’s Fast Ball - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 1:58 pm:
$379,471 cash on hand for Johnson. L M A O
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:01 pm:
Just here to expertly opine that Mayor Johnson losing 50% of the organized labor (and the energetic SEIU field operation) coalition that got him elected the first time seems…bad?
- Fast ball - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:01 pm:
Not alot of cash on hand for the Mayor.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:11 pm:
Aaron Del Mar is a lying liar…I trust him as far as I can throw a polygraph machine.
- Huh? - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:27 pm:
Sheba and I dropped out absentee ballots off yesterday. Straight dem vote.
I will never vote for another republican’t ever again.
- Arsenal - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:30 pm:
I just can’t get too worked up over what Del Mar says. We’ll never hear from him again in 15 days.
- Stephenson County - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:32 pm:
Aaron Del Mar is delusional. GOP ticket will lose again.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:35 pm:
Del Mar is as big and tough as he is intelligent. Unfortunately, he thinks that’s a compliment.
- PeterM - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:36 pm:
If I were Johnson’s campaign manager I’d be debating whether it’s worth the effort of dropping off ballot petition signatures this week. I didn’t see a path to the general for him already, & with SEIU endorsing Giannoulias those already-slim odds are on a GLP-1 regimen.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
Thinking about the Bailey/Del Mar ticket…nothing more than a fool’s errand.
- Anon62704 - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 3:01 pm:
=We’ll never hear from him again in 15 days.=
You will most certainly hear from him again when he runs for Gov in 4 years.
- iheartsza - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 3:43 pm:
I love how chicago hates the mayor regardless who it is–alexi good luck baby
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 3:58 pm:
=Right you’ve raised the minimum wage but then you’ve raised every other fee: property tax, the sales tax, income tax. Everything else. You’re paying people half-off double list price.=
Who is going to tell him?
Del Mar is to the governor’s race what a screen door is to a submarine.
- Katie - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 4:05 pm:
I’m truly gonna miss the weird “divorced dad posting Reels of himself driving” Aaron Del Mar video content that I see on Facebook when the Illinois GOP stops putting $200/mo worth of ad spend behind it. Heterosexual camp at its finest.
- Jibba - Tuesday, Oct 20, 26 @ 8:49 pm:
I believe him when he tells me who he is.