FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. – Tuesday marks the day of the Illinois primary election. One of the hottest races in the bi-state area is a Republican race for Congress.
Darren Bailey and Mike Bost are running for U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 12th congressional district, a seat that Bost had held since 2015. Bailey ran for Illinois governor in 2022, but lost that race to Democrat J.B. Pritzker.
Bost made five stops in his districts on Tuesday – including Swansea, Illinois – to rally supporters. Bailey has been turning up the heat in his campaign attacks against Bost.
Bailey had an endorsement from 45th U.S. President Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for governor in 2022, but he lost that race. He was hoping for another endorsement.
Instead, Trump recently announced his endorsement for Bost. That endorsement could be crucial in a conservative district that goes from southern Illinois to the St. Louis area, east to Indiana and south to Kentucky.
Both candidates say the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is their top issue of the campaign. Bailey says Bost is late to the party.
“He calls himself a ‘governing conservative.’ That spells compromise. That’s all the man has done,” said Bailey.
“I’m a governing conservative. I worked side by side with Donald Trump,” said Bost.
Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
