* Dave McKinney and Tina Sfondeles…
One month after staging a primary upset, Republican Darren Bailey is struggling to reel in supporters of a top Republican primary rival and has yet to log a six- or seven-figure campaign contribution in his fall fight against billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Compounding Bailey’s troubles, hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who put $50 million into the failed candidacy of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, doesn’t intend to write any checks to the downstate Republican state senator in his battle to unseat the Democratic governor.
“Ken will not be backing Darren Bailey,” Griffin spokesman Zia Ahmed told WBEZ. “He believes Richard Irvin was the best candidate for governor of Illinois.” […]
Some signs point to the possibility Irvin himself will endorse Bailey soon. […]
“Quite frankly, I’ve never met Sen. Bailey, so that’s an issue. I generally don’t support people I don’t know,” said Gidwitz, finance chair of Donald Trump’s 2020 Illinois presidential campaign and the former Trump-appointed ambassador to Belgium.
* Mike Miletich…
The Pritzker campaign says Bailey is happy to use police officers when it is convenient, but the senator’s voting record shows he has done little to benefit law enforcement.
Still, Illinois FOP President Chris Southwood said his organization is considering endorsing Bailey in the governor’s race. Southwood said Bailey has done everything he can to alleviate concerns from members. He explained Bailey wants to protect police pensions and pledged to support union agreements for the FOP.
Controversial Chicago Lodge 7 President John Catanzara said Bailey admitted he doesn’t know everything and needed to be informed by law enforcement to know what they needed. Catanzara stressed that change needs to occur in Springfield and Chicago to address rising crime. He claimed Illinois has been a nightmare since the SAFE-T Act took effect and Democrats passed the plan from a “50,000-foot overview” because it was all about emotions.
“I can tell you Sen. Bailey has been more involved in trying to understand what the problems are, what needs to be addressed in that than every other politician that helped craft it, pass it, and sign it.”
* WBBM…
The head of Chicago’s police union is throwing support behind Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey — and traveled to southern Illinois to do it.
“One of the first conversations we’ve had was about pensions and the concerns about pensions — and promises made need to be promises kept,” John Catanzara, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, said at an appearance Wednesday with the state senator in O’Fallon.
Catanzara said Bailey admitted to him he need to learn more about the issues, a candor that’s unusual in politics.
* Jerry Nowicki…
A new poll from the firm Morning Consult showed Gov. JB Pritzker’s approval rating at 51 percent among Illinois voters, or seven points “above water” in polling lingo.
It’s the latest quarterly poll from the firm, and data included 14,258 registered voters polled from April 1 through June 30.
While it’s a truism of polling that any poll is just a “snapshot in time,” Pritzker’s numbers have been remarkably consistent in the Morning Consult measurements since January 2021. His approval has ranged from 50 to 51 percent while disapproval ranged from 43 to 44 percent.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating in Illinois as measured by the same firm, however, is an example of how quickly public sentiment can change.
Morning Consult distributed the polling results under the headline “Democratic Governors Facing Re-Election Are Resisting Biden’s Drag Effect.” The firm measured Biden’s approval at 47 percent in Illinois while disapproval measured at 50 percent.
…Adding… WCIA…
According to a poll released Friday by Chicago-based polling company Victory Research, Governor J.B. Pritzker fell below 50% approval while leading against Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey by nearly 10%.
The poll found that 48.9% of respondents said they would vote for Pritzker, while 39.0% said Bailey had their vote.
The poll also found that 47.3% of respondents said Pritzker deserved a second term. Victory Research previously found in January 51.7% said Governor Pritzker deserved a second term.
* Meanwhile, Bailey has an op-ed in the Tribune…
Chicago is still a great city, but it is a city in decline. The good news is that enacting better policies will stop the decline and reverse the current trends.
School choice would force public schools to fight for students and funding and end the complacency that hurts our kids. Instead, let’s empower parents to choose where to send their kids to school. Let’s enable kids in crisis to escape failing schools and get the education they deserve. Consigning kids to failing schools based on where they live is cruel and wrong. We must end these destructive policies and stand up for our kids as a compassionate society. Reducing crime begins with giving families a real choice in education.
But…
