WASHINGTON, Ill. – Tazewell County was the site of one of the first looks at the candidates for the Republican nomination in the Illinois governor’s race this year.
Four candidates took the stage Thursday night at Five Points in Washington for more than an hour. The four were former State Senator and 2022 nominee Darren Bailey, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, Gold Rush Gaming owner Rick Heidner, and former president of Wirepoints Ted Dabrowski.
The event was hosted by the Tazewell County GOP, with topics ranging from the economy to illegal immigration to even how the Republican party can increase its relevance in Illinois.
Chairman Jim Rule says it took about a couple months of planning for the debate. He says it shows that Tazewell County is a leader in the state in Republican politics.
Bailey is making a second run at governor, after falling well short in 2022 to Democrat J.B. Pritzker. He says there’s a new roadmap for victory in 2022.
“We’re laser-focused on affordability. Our property taxes are too high, people are paying more for property taxes than they’re paying for their mortgage. The energy crisis has skyrocketed, they’re pushing families out of the state,” Bailey said.
One of Bailey’s campaign tenants this year is working on implementing a DOGE financial watchdog, similar to one run by Elon Musk at the federal government in 2025. Bailey has launched a website for what it would look like, and says there’s already money found that he claims was funneled to Pritzker’s Hyatt hotel chain.
Bailey also championed withholding money from cities in the state if they did not follow immigration law, and declare themselves a sanctuary city.
Illinois’ status as a sanctuary state was a main focus of Mendrick, along with the SAFE-T Act, the cashless bail law in Illinois. He says both are costing the state a lot of money.
“We have 700,000 people that’s been brought into Illinois, and we have no means to care for them,” Mendrick said. “But we’re also violating federal law, losing $2 billion in federal funding for doing it. Because when there’s a conflict between state and federal laws, the federal law prevails. And we’re not letting it prevail.”
Mendrick also touted a lot of his accomplishments at the debate. He says his experience in running and auditing a budget of $80 million with more than 450 employees in DuPage County can help him balance the state budget. Mendrick also says the state is losing money by not accounting for how much is spent on NGOs and illegal aliens.
Dabrowski believes Illinois could do better, saying it’s a bottom five state in the country in categories such as job creation and wage growth. His plans for state spending include eliminating the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which he claims picks “winners and losers,” as well eliminating lawmaker pensions and cutting their pay in half.
Dabrowski says he has the best chance to win statewide because of the coalition he can build.
“I’m going with who can build a coalition of political leaders, the funding necessary across the entire state, and the grassroots groups,” Dabrowski said.
Dabrowski is open to working across the aisle as well, saying he believes some Democrats could swing right because of a belief that Pritzker and other high-ranking Democrats are too extreme. And he would focus on issues that would force both sides to work together.
Heidner agrees with his fellow candidates on most things, but he says one topic sets him apart.
“All the safety, all the SAFE-T Act, all the helping the policemen get back to where they are, making our state great again, but I’m going to bring business, I’m going to draw business,” Heidner said.
Heidner says he could get help from the federal government and show them that Illinois can be prosperous and worth investing in. He believes with more business coming into the state, tax revenues will increase without implementing new taxes.
Heidner also favored putting a cap on property tax increases, something that was echoed by the other candidates.
The March primary election takes place on March 17th.
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