South Cook News

GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) is calling out Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin for skipping a recent televised candidate forum.

"Richard Irvin is a corrupt and career Democrat afraid of a televised debate with Darren Bailey," Bailey said. "Irvin's Biden-Basement strategy of hiding and flooding your televisions and mailboxes with lies about Darren Bailey's conservative record is backfiring and he knows it.

“He also knows he can't stand toe-to-toe with a conservative champion like Darren Bailey and talk about conservative solutions for Illinois. The fact is, after Darren Bailey and other competitors committed to the WGN/Nexstar debate that will stream on social media and cover 96.1% of all the TV Households in the state of Illinois, and eight out of the 10 DMA's, Irvin chose to continue hiding and join the undercard debate with far less coverage and softer questions and competition.

“This Republican primary is a two-person race between a basement-hiding Democrat like Irvin and a true conservative who stands up for working families and taxpayers like Bailey. Darren is the one with the grassroots movement, courage and integrity to defeat Pritzker in November and we are excited to make that clear in tomorrow's main event debate at 7 p.m.”

Irvin has been hard to track down on the campaign trail, missing the Central Illinois Republican Governor Candidate Forum.

Others in the Republican Party have spoken out against Irvin's absence from public appearances.

"Richard Irvin's empty chair on stage Monday will speak volumes to me," Tazewell County Clerk John C. Ackerman said after Irvin refused to participate in the forum.

Irvin has been described as a pawn in the hands of Chicago hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.

"Griffin wanted to make/mold a winning candidate out of whole cloth," former state senator and Woodbridge-based attorney Ron Sandack said on Twitter. "He didn't care that Irvin wasn't a Republican, he thought (wrongly) he was without a record worth criticizing ... he was again wrong." 

Bailey and Irvin will face tech entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan, McHenry County businessman Gary Rabine, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf and Max Solomon in the June 28 primary.

Bailey is a third-generation farmer who was born and reared in Louisville. Bailey grew up on Bailey Family Farm, which is now owned and operated by he and his sons, where they grow corn, wheat and soybeans.