Trump backs Darren Bailey for Illinois governor as GOP candidate has sought to distance himself from president

Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune on Sep 14, 2026

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President Donald Trump has endorsed Darren Bailey for governor, a move that undercuts the Republican nominee’s attempts to distance himself from a president unpopular in Illinois and whose backing contributed to Bailey’s loss to Democrat JB Pritzker in 2022.

“I’ve already endorsed him. I’m all for Bailey,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to depart Ireland on Sunday after a two-day trip that mixed diplomatic meetings with attending the Amgen Irish Open golf tournament at his resort in Doonbeg, County Clare.

“Well, I like the candidate from Illinois. He’s a good man,” Trump said, recounting Bailey’s personal tragedy of losing his son Zachary, his daughter-in-law Kelsey and two of their children in a helicopter crash in Montana last October.

After the crash, Trump wrote Bailey a letter of condolence and told the downstate farmer and former state lawmaker, who at the time was still deciding whether to run in the GOP primary for governor, to “continue to Fight! Fight! Fight! for your beloved state in honor of your beautiful family.”

Trump, who in 2022 endorsed Bailey in that year’s GOP primary and Bailey’s near 13-percentage-point loss to Pritzker in the general election, called the two-term Democratic governor — who also is one of the president’s most vocal critics nationally — “a disaster as a governor.”

“You look at what’s happening with crime. And JB Pritzker should lose. For some reason, Democrats win there. I don’t know why,” Trump said of Pritzker, who, in addition to seeking a third term, is also eyeing a potential 2028 presidential bid. “But Bailey is a very good candidate. He had a horrible tragedy. Amazing that he could go forward. A large portion of his family was wiped out.”

In making his second bid for governor, Bailey has sought to sideline Trump as an issue and focus on state issues to build support in the voter-rich suburbs, which have moved increasingly Democratic in part because of the president’s unpopularity there.

“Donald Trump has nothing to do with me running for governor,” Bailey told one reporter who asked about the Republican’s active cultivation of the president’s backing, including frequent visits to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, during the 2022 governor race.

On Monday, after Trump’s public statements in his support, Bailey continued making similar comments.

“I appreciate President Trump’s endorsement of my campaign for governor, but that’s not what this race is about,” Bailey said in a statement. “It’s about the endless ways JB Pritzker has failed Illinois families over the last eight years.”

But as much as Bailey has sought to push Trump into the background of his campaign, the Republican also has made moves to keep the president an election issue, previously saying he wouldn’t turn down an endorsement.

Last week, Bailey attended the two-day midterm Republican National Convention, labeled by the president’s supporters as “Trumpapalooza,” and was seen among those seated in the “President’s Box” at American Airlines Center in Dallas in a photograph posted on the social media site X by veteran Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro, Ill. Bailey unsuccessfully sought to oust Bost from the congressional seat two years ago. Trump endorsed Bost in that race.

Trump’s endorsement of Bailey now comes as Pritzker, the billionaire entrepreneur and an heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune, has been running TV ads displaying Bailey’s supportive comments about Trump from the past.

In his previous campaign for governor, Bailey called himself “a conservative fighter and a proud supporter of President Trump,” and said, “I just thank God for President Trump.” He also said the president “is a smart man. He knows what he does … and when he does it.”

Pritzker campaign spokesperson Leah Hurwitz said Trump’s endorsement of Bailey “won’t come as a surprise to Illinoisans who know all about Bailey’s intense admiration for Trump.”

“Despite the damage the president has done to our state, Bailey still supports Trump’s tariffs, cheered on his invasion of federal agents in our streets and vowed to ‘roll out the red carpet for him.'”

Trump is scheduled to make a rare visit to Illinois, a state he lost in all three of his presidential races, at the end of the month for the Presidents Cup golf tournament at the Medinah Country Club in DuPage County. There has been no word on whether Trump will also seek to campaign on Bailey’s behalf while in the state.

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