By Macy Brown, Lauren Harris & Madison Rohn
Photo collected from WBEZ Chicago: Your voter guide to the 2022 Illinois general election
The position of governor of Illinois is on the ballot for this year’s elections, which will be held on Tuesday, November 8th. The two main candidates for this race are the incumbent Governor J.B. Pritzker, who is a Democrat, and Republican State Senator Darren Bailey. (Illinois Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 2022, 2022) Here is a brief overview of their stances on important issues:
Democrat J.B. Pritzker is currently the governor of Illinois. During his first term as governor, he won bipartisan passage for Rebuild Illinois. This passage was the largest investment in state history to upgrade roads, bridges, rails, and schools. (About the Governor, 2022) The main goals Pritzker is hoping to accomplish are expanding quality, affordable health care and improving education from “cradle to career.” Pritzker believes that healthcare is a right, and as governor, he has been fighting to expand access to care, improve the quality of care available, and make it more affordable. Some things he wants to do are lower the cost of prescription drugs, increase transparency around pricing, and strengthen critical access to hospitals in rural communities. (Issues, 2022) According to his campaign website, Pritzker also made “improving Illinois’ education system one of his top priorities” (Issues, 2022).
Republican Darren Bailey has four major things that he is aiming to accomplish if elected. First, he wants to lower income and property tax for the state because he believes it takes opportunities away from middle-class families in Illinois (Bailey, 2022). Second, he wants to create jobs for people and continue to reopen the state after the shutdown that came with the COVID-19 pandemic (Bailey, 2022). He also wants to protect the second amendment right to bear arms, and he wants to protect the unborn citizens of Illinois because he believes that taxpayer money should not be going towards the funding of abortions and agrees with the overturning of Roe v. Wade decision (Bailey, 2022).
In addition to Pritzker and Bailey, Scott Schluter is also running for governor of Illinois. Schluter represents the Libertarian Party and serves as the Chair of the Southern Illinois Libertarian Party. (Illinois Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 2022, 2022) According to Schluter’s campaign website, he believes in gun rights, cutting “wasteful” spending in government, repealing the Illinois income tax, and the decriminalization of all drugs (Schluter, 2022).
As the election draws nearer, Bailey and Pritzker are about even in the estimated outcome of this midterm, which is why it is even more crucial that eligible voters do vote on November 8th. In-person voting for the midterms elections takes place on Tuesday, November 8th, and the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Registered voters in Illinois do not need a voter ID, except for some first-time voters who registered by mail and did not submit a driver’s license number, state ID number, social security number, or another form of ID. (Voting in Illinois, 2022) For more information about voting in Illinois, visit Voting in Illinois – Ballotpedia.
Photos retrieved from each candidate’s individual website:
JB for Governor
https://baileyforillinois.com/darren/
References
About the governor. Illinois.gov. (2022). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/about/Pages/default.aspx
Bailey for Illinois. (2022). Darren Bailey. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://baileyforillinois.com/issues/
Illinois gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022. (2022). Ballotpedia. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://ballotpedia.org/Illinois_gubernatorial_and_lieutenant_gubernatorial_election,_2022
Issues. Governor JB Pritzker. (2022). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://jbpritzker.com/issues/
Scott Schulter for Illinois Governor. (2022). Scott Schulter. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://scottschluter.com/
Voting in Illinois. (2022). Ballotpedia. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_in_Illinois
