(slow dramatic music) (camera chiming) (moves into dramatic techno music) (phone chimes) - Welcome to "Meet the Candidates" ahead of the March 19th, Illinois Primary.

I'm Jak Tichenor.

Our guest today is Darren Bailey of Xenia, who is challenging the incumbent Congressman Mike Bost for the Republican nomination in the Illinois 12th US House District.

Good to have you on the program, Mr. Bailey.

- It's an honor to be with you today.

Thank you so much.

- You're a farmer, former state senator, and the 2022 Republican candidate for governor in the state of Illinois.

Moving to the 12th district, the 12th district is the largest in terms of geography in the state, in terms of congressional districts, over 5,000 square miles.

It goes from the southern end of the state, all the way up to the Mattoon-Charleston area and river to river on either side.

What, in your opinion, gives you the best set of qualifications to be the Republican nominee for US Congress in this district?

- Well, I appreciate that, and I'm also, I'm used to dealing with large areas.

When I was first elected as a state representative in 2019, the 109th representative district was the largest geographical district in the state.

And then, after one term, I moved into the Senate, to the 55th Senate District.

And geographically, that was the 15 counties, one of the larger ones.

So, you know, being a family man, working, being a farmer, creating business, a trucking company, Bailey Family Freight, an excavating business, my wife was in small business for many years.

I had a flower shop and, and a retail business on the square in Louisville.

Served in church leadership for many years.

I served for 17 years on the North Clay School Board, the last 12 of those years as board president.

I did that from 1994 to 2012.

Then, and like I said, got to, Cindy, my wife and I, we started Full Armor Christian Academy.

We've got almost 300 students, preschool through high school at two locations.

One in Louisville and one in one in Olney.

So, we're passionate about life.

We're passionate about our future.

I'm passionate about our freedoms.

I'm passionate about families being able to thrive.

You know, I have 10 plus men and women that work on the farm with us.

And, you know, I think that those qualifications set me apart as being a business person frustrated with the way that government's going.

And then you couple that with my track record of standing for the people, one term is in the, as a state rep, one term as a senator, and running for governor, I think, I think the qualifications are pretty distinct that I am that person that will stand up for the people of the 12th Congressional District.

- As you've toured the district over the past year or so, you've talked to a lot of people.

What issue is at the top of voters' minds here in the 12th District as the most important one that needs to be addressed by Congress?

- Well, I'll tell you what, the most important, hands down, is our southern border.

People are very frustrated that that southern border has been neglected for so long.

It makes for a wonderful talking point, but at some point, you know, words have to meet up with action, and the talk is what people are frustrated about.

You know, we certainly have problems with our economy.

We're concerned about our public safety, we are frustrated about our education.

But when you enter in illegal immigration, all three of those are threatened.

We must close the border.

It should have been closed years ago, needs to be closed now, and then we can begin working on some of these other issues instead of supporting, I mean, we're supporting illegal aliens right now at this moment, more to the tune than we're supporting our veterans, our senior citizens, and many other families that are hurting.

So we've gotta close the border - Senate Democrats and Republicans put together a comprehensive plan on addressing the southern border situation.

But the House Speaker, Johnson, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump, rejected that plan.

What kind of border protection plan would you endorse if you're elected?

- I think the thing that we have got to move to in the future is single issue bills, one issue, one item, whatever that title says, that's what that bill is about, and no more packing it with this junk.

I was known in the House and in the Senate as voting no on a lot of bills.

And I challenge many people, you find any bill that maybe you're frustrated about that I voted no on, and you show it to me and you give me five minutes, and I will tell you why I voted no on that bill.

Because many times, you know, on page 337, and sometimes 3037, there's stuff that is in there that has absolutely nothing to do with what the original intent of the bill is.

So, you know, I see funding for Ukraine, and Israel, and many other pet projects packed into some of these, per se, the Senate bill that was, that was issued.

The President right now, today as we speak, has the ability and the power to close the border now.

He's refusing to do it.

We've got everything that we need, you know, other than an act of Congress to make that happen.

So, that's, single issue bills are, I think, the answer.

I think that's what people want.

So they can understand when a bill's being passed, there's not a lot of other nonsense floating around in it that's going to raise our taxes, going to increase government, going to pay for things that we are not in favor of.

- Beyond the single subject issue, who should be allowed into the United States, and what should be their pathway to citizenship?

- I think that's been working pretty well for the last 250 years.

I, you, most of the people that we talk to, you know, are products at one point in time of coming here to pursue this American dream.

So, I think the concern that we're letting people across this border that we have no idea who they are, where they're from, what their intent is, what they're bringing with them, what they're doing, the sex trafficking, the drug trafficking, you know, what we've witnessed recently with the military age men from China coming into this border, that's dangerous and that should never ever be accepted.

So, I think we simply go back to, you know, the proper ways of how our constitution allows for people to come into this country and I think we'll be just fine.

If there needs to be some kind of a help to assist people with their filing, maybe we need to bucket back down and empower state representatives, and state senators, and congressional offices to do a better job to help somebody when they come to their office and want to file for citizenship.

Maybe that's too complicated.

Maybe it costs too much.

I think those are some things that we can begin to take a look at, but I truly believe the vetting process that we've had for a long time must immediately be put back into place at bare minimum.

- One final question on immigration.

What about the dreamers who are brought here unlawfully as children, but have lived most of their lives in this country?

Former President Donald Trump tried to end that program during his term, but was blocked by the Supreme Court, but it could come back up again.

- Well, I think we've got a, you know, I understand someone who's born on US property, we've got that situation obviously to deal with.

But unfortunately, we've gotta take a good hard look at that because if we don't know who's in our country and we don't know why they're in our country, then we have to be pretty cognizant of what is the purpose and what is the future of this constitutional republic with, with a large amount of people that outnumbers, you know, many states combined today.

What is the intent and how is that going to affect our republic in days ahead when these people are granted voting privileges?

- Another question on the social issues front.

The Supreme Court, of course, overturned Roe versus Wade, leaving it up to the individual states to determine how to deal with the abortion issue.

Majority Democrats in the General Assembly in Springfield have worked to protect abortion rights in the state of Illinois, but many congressional Republicans are pressing for a federal ban on abortion.

Where do you stand on the issue?

- Well, I do believe it was within the sovereignty of the state to grant that.

I made that very known during the run for governor.

I want to point out I am 100% pro-life, and I will stand on that.

I think right now, the big thing that we need to be addressing that we could address easily is the fact that taxpayer funded dollars are paying for this.

My opponent has voted many times for past budgets.

These budgets allow for, for the share cost funding of Planned Parenthood to the tune of $500 million to $650 million.

Now my opponent says that well, that doesn't and can't go to abortion.

The people just don't want their money going to these organizations that are, that are doing this stuff.

I think if we start with this, and I think the American people will feel much better.

But no, I am 100% pro-life.

I believe in life as created at conception, but I also hold to the fact that I believe the states are sovereign in that issue.

- Would rape, incest, or protecting the life of the mother be exceptions to that rule?

- So, I am pro-life without exception.

I want to add one thing.

I have not witnessed or seen any incident right yet where the life of the mother would be deemed or considered an abortion.

I think many people, whether it's, you know, I think there are, every issue that I've been confronted with is a medical issue, whereas the baby would not, could not survive.

So I think, you know, I think we need to clear up some of the understanding sometimes of if, you know, what we're talking about with these exceptions.

But, I believe in life and I've, I'm, we've got some of that situation, yeah, I believe in life, period.

- Let's turn to the Illinois economy.

The gross domestic product for the state of Illinois is now over a trillion dollars a year, making Illinois one of the most powerful states in terms of economics in the country.

But the benefits of that economic activity don't always find their way down to people who are living in the 12th district.

We have a lot of folks here who are in high unemployment areas.

They have housing and food insecurity.

What's the state doing wrong and what could we do better at the federal level to bring new business and industry back to the 12th district?

- Well, the state is wasting our money.

J.B. Pritzker and the party in control are just a handing money out hand over fist, and that's gotta stop.

And I warned against that while I was running as governor and just this, you know, a few weeks ago when J.B. Pritzker gave his State of the State Address for the first time, with a $53 billion budget, he announced that there could be a billion dollar shortfall.

When I started running in 2018, the Illinois budget was $32 billion.

That's why I'm, that's why I began to run because my state representative supported a 32% tax increase, bumping our budget up to $34 billion.

Today, in the last of seven years, we've had over $65 billion of new fresh money injected, most of that being covid money, i.e.

taxpayers dollars, and we have nothing, nothing to show for that.

So, I think if we stop wasting our money and we start focusing on a true opportunity, the Illinois legislator has, is taxing coal out of existence, they're regulating our oil fields out of existence.

They're making it more difficult for families to, they're hijacking our schools with woke liberal ideology, things that parents do not want their children to be taught and that's pushing people outta the state.

So, there's going to become a time when business can't come here because the people aren't here to work.

That's probably the big thing I realized when we were up in Chicago, many of the factories and businesses had, at that time, two years ago, purchased parcels of ground over in Indiana in anticipation of a day when they might be forced to a move.

So I think if we focus more on opportunity and helping families with less government, less taxes, and I think that the federal government can come in and maybe do a better job of offering grants directly to people and organizations, instead of just dumping that money in the hands of our current government, I think then we can do better for the people and businesses of Illinois.

- Let's talk about transportation.

If you look at this district, you've got major interstates crisscrossing from east to west and north to south, lots of railway connections, and the borders of the southern part of the district are of course surrounded by some of the biggest rivers in the country.

How does transportation infrastructure fit into this and what specific projects would you try to promote, in terms of roads, highways, bridges, river ports, et cetera?

- Well, I think that's makes the 12th congressional district so awesome, especially now that one congressman is representing the district from river to river to river.

I think it's amazing.

And again, I think if we do a better job of allocating, we don't need more taxes.

My wife, Cindy and I, were traveling on the I-70 from the metro east a few evenings ago and, and the roads are a mess.

And I know that there's, there's going to be a lot of work being done because, you know, our gas tax was recently doubled to supposedly take care of that.

My argument then, my argument now, is that we need to reprioritize our spending.

I believe we have what we need if we would shrink government.

The waste is there and we can do a better job.

But as far as, let's talk about our rivers.

I was recently invited by Ingram Barge to take a tour of the facilities, got on the river with their barges, saw what they were doing.

And I was shocked when I found out that, you know, that several of the congressmen that have represented us in the past and that's representing us right now, refused to show up and take a good hard look at funding of these rivers.

These are locks and dams that should have two barges, side-by-side within them, can only handle one now because of all the 12 tie downs.

We have one, we have one lock and dam in our district that only has one tie down left and it's a matter of time before that disappears and breaks that, you know, our rivers are shut down.

Farm Bureau has been talking for years about maintaining and upgrading our river system.

It is long overdue.

Agriculture depends on it.

But unfortunately, our congressman is not bringing that up and talking about it.

- Let's turn to education, you brought that up a little earlier.

The federal government plays a smaller role in addressing the quality of public education in the state.

Most of the funding comes from the, from local property taxes and the state of Illinois.

A lot of the school districts in this district are still trying to catch up, in terms of per pupil spending, and some of them have poor educational outcomes and high dropout rates.

What role should the federal government play, more active or less active in your view, when it comes to K through 12 education?

- I think the federal government needs to get out of the education business.

I served as a board member for 17 years.

I want that control to reside in the hands of the local community and the local board only.

The state government needs to stay out of their mandates.

We need to focus on what helps our children succeed in life.

I think the one thing that I'm looking forward to with, in the realm of federal funding, is let's use those dollars and let's use them for school choice.

Let's let parents decide where they want their children to go to school at.

You start and create competition, it's going to make public school even stronger and better.

I know that for a fact.

- We've got a lot of higher education institutions in the 12th district, like Southern Illinois University, a lot of community college districts.

What would the federal government's role be in terms of trying to make sure more of our students stay in Illinois rather than going out of state to pursue their college educations?

- Well, again, a lot of that resides at the hands at, you know, in the state government.

I'm a product of the community college.

I love our community college system.

Our community colleges are affordable.

Unfortunately, many times with our universities, they've become unaffordable because of administrative salaries.

I think that we need to, we need to ratchet that down and live within our means.

Again, I think the federal government can, if the federal government exits education, I think that some of those dollars that are being used can be used for vouchers or grants and helping keep our students with some of these student loan programs, maybe offer some more grants and low interest loans to keep students, as you say, right here in state.

- Let's talk about the Farm Bill.

We're, I think, currently operating under a continuing resolution of the last Farm Bill for the country.

When you look at the situation in Washington, congressional Democrats and Republicans are divided over how to actually secure a lot of the funding or put funding in place for this.

There's a question over how much should go to the supplemental nutrition program known as SNAP.

There's also questions over how much should go to the environment.

In terms of negotiating a new Farm Bill, what would be your approach?

- Well, my approach is to get it done in a timely manner.

I am so frustrated, and I think the American people are, that we have absolutely nothing to show from our federal government for the entire year of 2023.

And let's not forget these people make close to $200,000 and when they're committee chairs, there's even more perks.

You know, my congressman's more interested in voting for amnesty for these illegal aliens as he is as showing up and getting the work done for our federal budget.

What's the one thing that state and federal elected officials are responsible for?

Creating a budget every year.

Yet we went through the first seven months of 2023 with nothing to show for it.

They took off the whole month of August on vacation, and here we are pushing continued resolutions, pushing the Farm Bill right down the road.

That is wrong.

People want people, elected officials who are gonna show up and work for them.

So, you know, there's no doubt that people are hurting, families are hurting.

I have no problem with the SNAP benefits, but I also witness as I go into grocery stores, convenience stores, I see people buying stuff with this money that they shouldn't be buying.

We can do a better job of educating families on how to properly, you know, how to properly eat, take care of their children.

I witnessed that while I was on the school board.

We found out that children were coming to school hungry, they were gone home hungry.

We tried to take care of that, but sometimes parents were, you know, the best and easiest thing to do is to load up on Little Debbie snack cakes, and we need to do a better job of making sure that money is put to the proper food source and that parents are educated on how to feed and take care of their children.

- Let's turn to energy.

Illinois used to be one of the top coal producing states in the country, but the Clean Air Act of 1990 put that pretty much out of business.

In terms of renewable energy and other forms of energy that can be developed here currently and in the future, how would you make this district more competitive, especially in the area of renewable energy?

- Well, I think we must fight for the, (laughs) for bringing back our coal and our natural gas.

We're going to find out soon and very soon that we have to have and maintain our reliable energy sources.

I have stood up for four years in Springfield and I said I have no problem with the expansion and the experimentation of solar and wind, but do not shut down our reliable sources of energy because we cannot stand, this country, this state of Illinois cannot deal with blackouts and brownouts that I believe will come if we continue to shut our power sources down.

And let's not forget about the fact that right now as we speak, China is building over 1500 coal-fired plants.

And these don't have the scrubbers on, they don't care about the environment.

So everything we shut down here and every business that we send over to China, we're polluting the airway just as as worse as what we could ever dream.

We've got our power plant at Marissa, the cleanest coal-powered plant in the world.

People think sometimes those, that's smoke coming out of the stacks.

No, that's simply vapor from the scrubbers.

It's producing about 95, 97% clean energy and we need to get back to that.

- A couple of minutes left, I'm gonna turn to foreign policy for a moment.

What about continued military and financial support for the state of Israel, in view of what happened after the October Hamas terrorist attacks and the mounting toll of Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, what should be our policy?

- Well, I wanna make that, I believe we should support Israel at all costs.

The Bible tells us that, you know, those who support Israel will be blessed and I believe that I stand with Israel at all costs.

However, I think we can do a better job of how we send out foreign aid.

And I think probably first and foremost, we probably, I think Israel knows how to deal with what they're dealing with and when we have an involvement of the Biden regime telling Israel what they can and cannot do with any support, I think that's a detriment.

And maybe that's a reason why this has been drug out for far too long.

- Final question has to do with Ukraine.

Some congressional Republicans are questioning the continued financial support and military aid to Ukraine, as far as they're being able to turn back the Russian invasion of a couple of years ago.

What should our policy be towards Ukraine?

- Well, unfortunately, I wish we had, you know, had a lot to do over again and again, my opponent has voted to send billions of dollars to Ukraine.

And as a veteran and sending that over unchecked, I find that shameful.

We are better than that here in America.

And I think that when we look at what's going on over there, I think there's a lot of questions to be answered that simply aren't being.

We cannot afford to keep sending military items, billions, hundreds of billions, even, and maybe into the trillions.

We cannot do that.

We must get healthy here at home first and foremost.

When we get strong then we'll be a better player to, you know, to help out with conflicts in the world.

- One final question has to do with NATO.

Former President Trump has called, strongly called into question continued support for the North Atlantic Treaty organization.

Where do you stand on that?

- Again, I think we need, there's a lot of questions that need to be answered to make sure that our funding, our money, we, the people of the United States of America are taking care of home first and making sure that our dollars are being spent appropriately wherever we spend them and I think the American people have a lot of questions about that.

- Darren Bailey, candidate for US House, for the Republican nomination of the 12th US Congressional District, thanks very much for your time today.

- Thank you.

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