On Saturday, Oct. 3, Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey made the trek to Wehrli Custom Fabrication Inc. in DeKalb.
The diesel truck shop and custom metal fabrication company hosted Bailey at their biannual WCFab open house for families and automotive enthusiasts.
The Bailey campaign said his stop in DeKalb was facilitated by a friendship he had forged with the truck shop’s owners early on in his campaign.
At Saturday’s event, Bailey greeted campaign supporters from the northern Illinois region and fielded questions from the press about his most recent stop.
According to Bailey, the cost of living is the chief concern being expressed by Illinois voters ahead of next month’s gubernatorial rematch with incumbent Governor J.B. Pritzker.
Bailey, from downstate Xenia, previously challenged Pritzker for the governorship in 2022, but lost the race with 42% of the final vote.
“People are just fed up,” said Bailey. “Just the frustration of living in Illinois and hope of what my administration would offer. That’s what we’re sensing a lot, even as we’ve walked in here today.”
Bailey garnered statewide notoriety in 2020 as an outspoken critic of statewide mask mandates and other COVID-19 pandemic response initiatives enacted by the Pritzker administration.
As longstanding political adversaries, the Pritzker campaign maintains that Bailey is too conservative for the future of Illinois.
During his gubernatorial campaign in 2022, Bailey received a “complete and total endorsement” from President Donald Trump.
Sycamore resident Gary Freeman says he learned Bailey was coming to DeKalb over Facebook. According to Freeman, something in Illinois needs to change and he thinks electing Bailey is a promising start.
“We can’t keep going like we are,” said Freeman. “It’s not a good path.”
Freeman says he believes Bailey is more in touch with the “common person” and that taxes are something he’s very concerned about as November approaches.
As for the election itself, Bailey says he has a “peaceful confidence” about his chance of becoming Illinois’ next governor.
