Daily Herald endorsement: Darren Bailey in GOP gubernatorial primary

In clashes between Gov. JB Pritzker and President Donald Trump, the four candidates in the Republican primary for governor share a common refrain: It’s Pritzker’s fault.

They’re quick to blast the governor’s rhetoric — never mind the president’s — for squabbles between the two, and they put the blame for sweeping ICE actions and the withholding of federal funds squarely on Pritzker’s shoulders. They dismiss any suggestion that Trump is targeting blue states.

Voters who share those views will find much to like in all four candidates: 2022 GOP nominee for governor Darren Bailey, former Wirepoints chief Ted Dabrowski, video gambling magnate Rick Heidner and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick. In that regard, there is little to separate the four.

But there are differences in their approaches and rhetoric, as well as in their ideas to address the state’s looming financial woes and the loss of businesses to other states — both important issues.

Four years ago, we endorsed Aurora’s Richard Irvin over Bailey and others in the gubernatorial primary, stressing that the Republican Party needed to attract moderate voters to take on Pritzker. This year, all four Republican candidates fall decidedly in the conservative camp and, more specifically, align with the president in ways that trouble us.

None, for example, has a problem with U.S. Department of Justice demands that Illinois turn over its complete unredacted voter database, insisting that the only justification for fighting back is that there is something to hide. They are open to nationalizing elections, though Heidner prefers authority remain with the state, as spelled out in the Constitution. And they all cite widespread voting distrust in the U.S., failing to acknowledge that Trump — still falsely insisting that he won the 2020 election — feeds on concerns with unfounded accusations of “rigged” elections and massive fraud.

On questions about vaccines, where state recommendations deviate from changing federal guidance under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mendrick advocates a push toward aligning with looser federal guidelines and Heidner linked the COVID-19 vaccine to the deaths of friends.

Among the four men hoping to face Pritzker in November, we lean toward Bailey, a former state legislator who served both in the House and Senate, giving him crucial experience working with a Democratic General Assembly in Springfield. That means less of a learning curve, and more realistic expectations, should he win in November.

We also see a different, humbler side of Bailey, a Clay County farmer, in his second attempt at statewide office that suggests his decisive loss to Pritzker four years ago and personal tragedy may have given him a broader perspective. The man who once denounced Chicago as a “hellhole” says he now understands the “entirety of Illinois better.”

We hope that’s the case. We endorse Darren Bailey.