Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Voters considering their choices for Illinois Governor have a stark choice between the Democratic incumbent, J.B. Pritzker, and his Republican challenger, Darren Bailey. eNews Park Forest strongly endorses Pritzker.
Taking office in 2019, Pritzker could not have foreseen the pandemic that would overwhelm the country and require him to lead the state through a two-year health crisis. Unlike many leaders on both the national and state levels who pretended that COVID was “fake news,” Pritzker followed the science and relied on the advice of his health advisory team and the CDC. As a result of his leadership, according to a Politico study at the end of 2021, the health of Illinois residents fared better than many states that failed to impose the commonsense safety precautions he put in place.
On the economic front, Pritzker tackled the ever-increasing budget deficits that had plagued the state for years. While the pandemic certainly threw a monkey wrench into some of his financial plans, his ability to pass balanced budgets, address some of the long-standing pension problems, and restore the state’s rainy-day fund mark a dramatic improvement over the efforts of his predecessors.
The contrast between the candidates could not be more clear on the issue of abortion and a woman’s right to privacy and choice. While Pritzker is a strong supporter of a woman’s right to choose and has earned the endorsement of Planned Parenthood, Bailey’s campaign is strongly aligned with the Pro-Life movement and opposes a woman’s right to choose an abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
While he has the support of Donald Trump, Bailey, to his credit, does not agree that the 2020 election was “stolen.” However, his recent campaign appearances with Donald Trump Jr. raise concerns about Bailey’s allegiance to the former president in the future.
Illinois does not need a governor like Bailey, who has called Chicago a “hellhole” numerous times and even called for Chicago to be broken off from the rest of Illinois (a position he no longer supports). And while Bailey is often critical of the level of crime in Chicago, his plan to get rid of firearm owners’ identification cards would make the gun problem in the state even worse.
Illinois needs a governor it can count on to lead in a constructive, rational manner, even when his positions may not always be popular. Illinois needs J.B. Pritzker, and he is strongly endorsed.
