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A Rising Tide Hits Illinois
Late last week, a 21-year-old man who works in a garden shop and lives in a condo on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive made a phone call to an Illinois State Senator. It was after-hours, so the caller left a voicemail message.
I’m going to skin Darren Bailey alive, making sure he is still alive, and I’m going to feed his f——— family to him as he is alive and screaming in f——— pain.
Darren Bailey, the GOP candidate for Illinois Governor, dropped off the campaign trail for a bit … opting for a tele-town hall on Facebook and other quiet activities. The Illinois Secretary of State police visited the caller, and decided he was not a “credible threat.” Illinois State Police and Chicago Police then visited the man, who apparently shared a Snapchat message that he wrote to friends bragging that he was a “political terrorist,” and after learning that Bailey was in a lockdown, replied with smiley face emojis and said to another friend, “I feel so f——— accomplished.”
Scott Lennox spent the night in Cook County Jail. He is being held on a $75,000 bond. He’ll be released on 10 percent bail and sent home with an electronic monitoring device and an admonition to stay away from Bailey and his family.
This story broke late Wednesday. The phone call happened October 28, but wasn’t discovered until the Senator’s staff returned to the office on Monday. When the story came out, it was straight facts from the Cook County Prosecutor’s office. As time has gone on, the story has been embellished in an attempt to link anything that Bailey has said on the campaign trail with the threat. In this archived story from the Chicago Sun-Times, the Democrat House Speaker Chris Welch shared well-wishes for Bailey and his family.
We need these violent threats to stop. Politicians on both sides of the aisle need to lower the rhetoric and bring back civility to our politics. I don’t agree with Mr. Bailey’s policies, but I want nothing but the best for him and his family. https://t.co/aXSbb85HIm
— Emanuel "Chris" Welch (@ChrisWelch_JD) November 2, 2022
In this morning’s online story in the Sun-Times, the text of the tweet is gone, replaced with a hyperlink. The text of JB Pritzker’s tweet is still in the story, along with pull quotes from a debate where Pritzker called Bailey an “extremist” who was “dangerous” for the state and “shouldn’t be let anywhere near the governor’s office.”
The violent rhetoric and division we're seeing across our country is unacceptable. Hatred in any form has no home in Illinois. https://t.co/GBNxAA9KAE
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) November 2, 2022
Darren Bailey responded to the threat on Wednesday, saying…
Whether we agree or disagree on policies, we are all Americans. I pray this young man gets the help he needs. We must bring our state together and fight for the safety and prosperity of every Illinoisan.
Illinois has been flying under the radar this entire election season. Lumped in with California and other blue strongholds, pollsters and the media have generally been ignoring the race between Hyatt hotel heir JB Pritzker and southern Illinois farmer Darren Bailey. Bailey came to statewide recognition during the early days of the pandemic, along with Attorney General candidate Tom DeVore, by suing Pritzker over his use of serial COVID disaster declarations. Some tried to paint Bailey as a hick farmer with a twangy accent. In the meantime, Bailey and his running mate Stephanie Trussell have been quietly engaging in retail politics in the city of Chicago and other heavily blue areas.
When you’re taking flak, you are over the target. President Biden will be in Chicago Friday and Kamala Harris on Sunday, ostensibly to campaign for congressional candidates. Darren Bailey will be having a rally in Daley Plaza on Sunday as well. I don’t know the last time any Republican candidate for governor held a rally in Chicago.
They say a rising tide lifts all boats. Red Wave, please lift the Land of Lincoln and home of the Republican party. It’s an uphill battle.
Published in Elections
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Thanks for this report.
Funny how there has been no polling numbers here in ILL. Get it done Darren! We are ready for change!
I wonder if he’d mind if I called him Derwood, for old-time’s sake?
As a fellow Illinoisan (for now) I do hope Bailey will win. If for nothing else, it would finally force the Illinois General Assembly to do something about the never-ending State of Emergency acts that Gov. Pritzker has employed. I mean, we can’t let emergency powers be used by a Republican, am I right?
That said, I don’t see Biden and Harris coming to Illinois as a sign that Bailey is really worrying the Dems. Instead, it’s a safe place to park Harris and Biden. They can say incredibly stupid things, face no scrutiny from the local media and most of the city of Chicago will vote Democrat anyway. Biden and Harris get to feel like they were “in the trenches” when really they were playing in their own sandbox.
Unfortunately I have to agree about the Biden/Harris visits. It’s either where they know they’re going to lose (Florida) or going to win.
Good illustration.