Former Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin on Monday endorsed Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s reelection bid over GOP firebrand Darren Bailey, who Durkin said is “not cut out for the job.”
Encapsulating tensions within a fractured Illinois Republican Party 12 years removed from its last statewide election victory, Durkin said in a Pritzker campaign video that “it’s unfortunate, but I cannot cast my vote for my party’s nominee.”
“I served with Darren Bailey in Springfield, and I know what he is and isn’t capable of,” said Durkin, the Western Springs Republican who stepped down in 2023 after almost a decade in charge of the minority state House caucus.
“Bailey stands for exclusion over inclusion, and his politics are of subtraction over addition. His politics don’t work for me, nor the Republican Party I know. He’s never accomplished anything for Illinois, and he’s not cut out for the job. Frankly, he cannot be trusted to lead our state.”
Durkin has long been a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump, whom the former leader blames for alienating moderate suburban voters who once provided the foundation for the Illinois GOP. Durkin chaired John McCain’s Illinois campaigns in 2000 and 2008.
Trump has endorsed Bailey, who has distanced himself from the president as he tries to shore up Chicago area support four years after losing to Pritzker by nearly 13 percentage points.
After casting his ballot in downstate Clay County, Bailey blasted his former colleague and suggested Durkin was angling for a White House cabinet appointment from Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
“Jim Durkin and JB Pritzker — they don’t give a damn about you, and they don’t give a damn about anyone in the state of Illinois,” Bailey said, adding that he first ran for a House seat in 2018 “because Jim Durkin had failed us miserably.”
“When we ask what is wrong and how did we get here… Just disgustingly failed leaders, lead Republicans, where we’re at, like sheep to the slaughter, and here we are now,” Bailey said. “Jim Durkin never has been, never will be a Republican. He showed his true colors today.”
Durkin brushed off the barbs in an interview, rolling his eyes at “the Darren Bailey shtick.”
“He can bellyache as much as he wants about me, but I’ve done more for the party than he ever has or will,” said Durkin, who’s now an attorney advising local governments on economic issues.
“He needs to think about whether he’s value added to the GOP after November,” Durkin said. “He’s lost before. He needs to stick to what he’s best at. He’s a successful farmer.”
In the Pritzker ad, Durkin said, “I may not agree with JB on everything, but he’s a good person, and he has delivered on matters important to me and to the state,” including the state’s assault weapon ban.
“I’m not going to waste my vote,” Durkin said. “I’m voting for Gov. JB Pritzker.”
In a statement, Illinois Republican Party Chair Bob Grogan said: “JB Pritzker’s two-terms as Illinois governor have been a complete and total failure as he raised our taxes over and over, championed illegal immigrants and passed the most bloated state budget in history.
“This is who opportunists in search of relevance like Jim Durkin have aligned themselves with and is further proof that the only way to save Illinois is by electing new, strong leadership like Darren Bailey,” Grogan said.
Pritzker said he “never doubted [Durkin’s] devotion to the people of our great state.”
“He was a partner in rebuilding Illinois’ infrastructure and strengthening our fiscal foundation — and an opponent of MAGA extremists driven only by their infatuation with Donald Trump,” the governor said in a statement. “Leader Durkin has the heart of a public servant, and I am honored to have his support in this campaign.”