Prairie State Wire

Darren Bailey announced Stephanie Trussell as his running mate in his campaign for Illinois governor in a Dec. 13 news conference. 

Trussell spent seven years as a radio show host for WLS AM-890, according to The Pantagraph. After that she did fill-in work for WIND AM-560. Trussell at present lives in Lisle. She grew up on Chicago's West Side.

Bailey described her as "a hard-working conservative" and "a fighter, a mother, a grandmother and Illinois' next lieutenant governor."

"We live in the greatest country on earth and the most amazing state of the union. Our home is in trouble. And when your home is in danger you stand up and do something about it," Bailey said at the conference. "That's why we're here today. Because we all know that Springfield is broken and working families and taxpayers are paying the price. 

"We are tired of the political class selling out the working class taxpayers because they don’t have the backbone to stand up and do what's right," he continued. "We're tired of extreme liberal policies being pushed in Springfield while weak-kneed Republicans are too afraid to stand up and deliver a simple conservative message."

Bailey went on to discuss specific policies the team supported, which included removing COVID-19 related mandates and more parental involvement in their children's educations. 

"As (my wife) Cindy and I continue to travel across our great state and listen to Illinoisans who are fed up with Springfield, the more we realized that this is not just a campaign, friends, this is a movement," Bailey said. 

Other Republican candidates running in the primary in June with the hope of heading off against Gov. J.B. Pritzker include businessmen Gary Rabine of Bull Valley, Jessie Sullivan of Petersburg and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, according to The Pantagraph.