State Sen. Darren Bailey called Chicago “a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole” when asked about crime and gun violence in the city.
Republican candidates for Illinois Governor, from left, Jesse Sullivan, Darren Bailey, and Gary Rabine participate in a debate at WGN-Ch. 9 in Chicago on May 24, 2022.
Bailey’s comments were made at a debate where he appeared alongside businessman Gary Rabine of Bull Valley and cryptocurrency venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan. They came right after a separate televised forum that featured Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, a former state senator, and Max Solomon, a lawyer from Hazel Crest.
Irvin, Schimpf and Solomon appeared at 6 p.m. in a forum hosted by NBC-Ch. 5 and Telemundo. An hour later, Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan appeared for an hour on WGN-Ch. 9. All six are vying for the June 28 GOP primary nomination for governor and the right to take on first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Nov. 8.
“It’s actually a shame that Richard Irvin chose not to be here tonight because I was actually looking forward to having a conversation with him face to face,” Bailey said. “Richard Irvin is as corrupt as Mike Madigan, and actually electing Richard Irvin into this seat would be no different from allowing Mike Madigan to serve as governor.
But it was the topic of gun violence and crime, in light of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and continued outbreaks of violent crime in Chicago, that took up a large portion of each forum. In addition to needing to “look at mental health services,” he said, “we also have to look at faith and fatherhood.”
But Irvin has since denied signing such a letter and instead has said he was focused on fixing the FOID card system, though many of his rivals favor eliminating the card requirement for gun owners.
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