SPRINGFIELD — Cindy Bailey fired back at Gov. JB Pritzker’s campaign Tuesday for running ads that accuse her husband, Republican candidate Darren Bailey, of viewing women as “inferior.”
Cindy Bailey held a news conference in Springfield on Tuesday, a week before Election Day, arguing Pritzker’s ads inaccurately portray Bailey’s treatment of women.
"When JB Pritzker tries to frighten women by making my husband into something he isn't, I'm going to speak up," Cindy Bailey said. "Darren understands that criticism comes when running for governor. I understand that too. But governor, you have crossed a line."
Pritzker's campaign is running a TV ad in the Chicago area that claims Bailey has said "women should be treated inferior to men," and that he opposes abortion in cases of rape or incest.
Bailey has a record of supporting anti-abortion positions but has largely chosen not to speak on that issue during this campaign. The ad also shows Bailey on video saying "God intended the family unit to be headed by the dad."
"I have never once had to ask for my husband's permission to speak," Cindy Bailey said. "I owned a business. I helped lead a school. I raised our four children, and through every chapter, Darren treated me as his partner and valued my opinions and the work that I did."
Bailey has for months faced relentless attack ads from Pritzker's campaign. Pritzker has spent $90.5 million of his own money on his campaign, while Bailey raised just over $1 million between June 1 and Sept. 30. It hasn't been enough to launch any sort of advertising counterattack, leading Bailey to rely on face-to-face contact with voters and media headlines.
Bailey’s private school
The Baileys founded a private Christian school in Clay County that has been a major focus of Pritzker's attack ads. Those ads claim the Full Armor Christian Academy uses Bob Jones University Press curriculum, which, they say, teaches that women's participation in the workforce has been costly to the country.
Cindy Bailey denied on Tuesday that the school uses the textbook, though Darren Bailey said earlier this month in an interview with a St. Louis TV station that he believes that is the curriculum the school is using.
"A woman's worth is not determined by whether she works in an office, runs a business, or stays home with her children," Cindy Bailey said. "We ought to respect one another enough to recognize our lives may look different."
The school received a violent threat via email following Pritzker’s ads, which Bailey’s team has blamed on the Pritzker campaign. State Police are investigating, but Cindy Bailey said they have thus far been unable to trace the email to a specific person.
Pritzker's campaign declined to walk back the ads.
“Darren Bailey’s record is clear: he believes women shouldn’t have a right to make their own medical decisions, and the school he founded teaches that women should be subservient to men," a Pritzker spokesperson said. "A last-ditch effort to save his flailing campaign doesn’t change that.”
Cindy Bailey was joined by Kristina McCloy, the founder of Concerned Parents of Illinois, a conservative advocacy group. Pritzker's campaign has criticized McCloy for statingon social media that authorities were covering up attacks by Black children on white children in schools.
The Patch online publication reported McCloy’s page also criticized Hinsdale’s village president, Republican Greg Hart, for "participation in LGBTQ community events, Mexican parades, Muslim events, public support for (Black Lives Matter), publicly complimenting the NAACP, and thanking Joe Biden for his service.”
Closing message
The news conference came amid Bailey’s final statewide tour this week aimed at rallying supporters ahead of next week's election.
Bailey said he believes the election is a "race" to 2 million votes — about 300,000 more than he received in 2022, when he lost to Pritzker by 12 points. Pritzker received 2.3 million votes last cycle, down from the 2.5 million he received in 2018 against Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who received 1.8 million. That was President Donald Trump's first midterm election, and Democrats gained ground across the country.
A similar environment is shaping up in this year's race, leading Trump to campaign for candidates in traditionally safe Republican states like Texas on Tuesday. Bailey also toured areas this week that have largely been safe for Republicans. Eleven of his 17 stops this week were outside of the Chicago TV market that Bailey said would be the focus of this year's campaign.
He said he believes he can win if enough Republican voters show up and blamed his 2018 loss on poor turnout.
In the Chicago area, Pritzker has also been making final stops to rally supporters. His Tuesday schedule included a reception focused on women's rights and reproductive health care with comptroller candidate Margaret Croke and Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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