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  "path": "/elections/2026/03/17/governor-illinois-republican-race-primary-results",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-17T10:30:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://chicago.suntimes.com",
  "tags": [
    "Darren Bailey",
    "_back in the GOP primary_",
    "Ted Dabrowski",
    "Rick Heidner",
    "Richard Uihlein",
    "$1.8 million in his campaign fund",
    "_a late entry_",
    "_his three opponents_",
    "_often butted heads_",
    "Voter Guide >",
    "Ballot look-up tool >",
    "Candidate profiles >",
    "Polling place look-up >",
    "U.S. Senate >",
    "U.S. House >",
    "2nd District",
    "7th District >](https://chicago.suntimes.com /elections/2026/03/17/us-house-illinois-7th-congressional-district-primary-results) | [8th District >",
    "8th District > | [9th District >",
    "Governor (GOP) >",
    "Illinois Comptroller >",
    "Illinois General Assembly >",
    "Cook County President >",
    "Cook County Board of Review >",
    "Cook County Assessor >"
  ],
  "textContent": "Illinois Republicans will decide Tuesday whether they’re running it back with a familiar face or sending a new gubernatorial challenger to try to prevent another term for Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.\n\nFormer state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, is _back in the GOP primary_ four years after trouncing the field within his party before getting trounced himself by Pritzker in the 2022 general election.\n\nHe’s up against a trio of prominent voices arguing for a new one at the top of the GOP ticket in November: conservative activist Ted Dabrowski, video gambling magnate Rick Heidner and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick.\n\nBailey, the conservative firebrand and farmer who made a name for himself challenging Pritzker’s early COVID-19 mitigation measures, has tried to appeal to the moderate suburban voters who once served as a key foundation of the Illinois Republican Party, but have largely abandoned it during the rise of President Donald Trump.\n\nA fierce MAGA supporter who famously branded Chicago a “hellhole” last time around, Bailey is focusing more on economic issues than the social ones that dominated his 2022 campaign, including protecting gun ownership rights and restricting abortion rights.\n\n“I don’t think that people realize the damage that Pritzker [has done] in the last three years, and he’s certainly done that, because affordability is front and center today,” Bailey told the Sun-Times. “Our approach will be actually doing something about it.”\n\nConservative commentator Ted Dabrowski argues he’s the only candidate that can actually do something about Pritzker, who beat Bailey by nearly 13 percentage points and is unopposed in his party’s primary for a third term as Illinois’ chief executive.\n\nConservative megadonor Richard Uihlein and other major contributors have put their chips behind Dabrowski, a former Citibank executive from the north suburbs who has built large online audiences as an analyst for Wirepoints and the Illinois Policy Institute.\n\n“As much as I supported [Bailey], he couldn’t win,” Dabrowski said. “We need big change.”\n\nDabrowski entered the home stretch of the race with about $1.8 million in his campaign fund, compared to about $150,000 for Bailey.\n\nHeidner is outpacing the field in funds despite _a late entry_ into the race, with more than $2.7 million on hand. More than half that is self-funded from his own personal fortune rooted in his Gold Rush Gaming video gambling machine business, the Ricky Rockets Fuel Center chain and a vast real estate portfolio.\n\nLike _his three opponents_, Heidner rails against Illinois Democratic policies, namely business taxes that Republicans claim are too burdensome, the Pritzker-led defiance of Trump administration immigration enforcement and criminal justice reform that has included the abolition of cash bail.\n\n“I just couldn’t stand anymore seeing all the people that are being hurt,” said Heidner, whose business empire has _often butted heads_ with state regulators under Pritzker’s administration.\n\nWhile Heidner is a first-time candidate for public office, he’s no stranger to Illinois politics. He’s contributed more than $1.4 million over the years to campaigns on both sides of the aisle — including some officials that he’s now quick to disparage, like Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.\n\n“I’ve always been able to work with everybody,” Heidner said.\n\nMendrick says it’s been no picnic working as the top cop of Illinois’ second-largest county under Pritzker, whom the two-term sheriff calls a “menace.”\n\nMendrick pushed back against the Democratic governor’s COVID mitigation measures as well as the assault-weapon ban championed by Pritzker. “I’m his next-door neighbor, and I’ve had to deal with the repercussions of the big mistakes that JB Pritzker’s made in DuPage County,” said Mendrick, whose campaign had about $47,000 on hand leading up to the election.\n\nEach one of the candidates is against abortion in almost all cases — and quick to point out that they can’t do much about it in deep-blue Illinois, where Democratic supermajorities in the General Assembly have passed numerous protections in the post-Roe v. Wade era.\n\n**Voter resources**\nVoter Guide > \nBallot look-up tool >\nCandidate profiles > \nPolling place look-up > \n\n**Races we’re watching**\nU.S. Senate >\nU.S. House > | 2nd District > | 7th District >](https://chicago.suntimes.com /elections/2026/03/17/us-house-illinois-7th-congressional-district-primary-results) | 8th District > | [9th District > \nGovernor (GOP) > | Illinois Comptroller > | Illinois General Assembly >\nCook County President > | Cook County Board of Review > | Cook County Assessor >\n",
  "title": "Can anyone beat Darren Bailey in the Republican primary for Illinois governor?",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-17T10:30:59.274Z"
}