Prairie State Wire

Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), a gubernatorial candidate, recently went to social media to criticize Gov. J.B. Pritzker's attempts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak throughout the state.

Bailey stated in an April 16 Twitter post that Pritzker had "failed" and referred to a National Bureau of Economic Research study that assigned Illinois a failing grade for its COVID regulations.

"Only four states, California, New Mexico, New York and New Jersey, handled the pandemic worse than Illinois. In all, there were five states given an “F” grade," a Wirepoint report states.

Bailey, who has been a steadfast critic of Pritzker's efforts to contain COVID-19 outbreaks in the state, celebrated when a Sangamon County judge ruled against Pritzker's mask requirements for public school students, according to an SE Illinois News report.

“This ruling is another victory for freedom that confirms what we already knew and have been fighting for since the beginning,” Bailey said in a statement. “Pritzker is a failure and I will continue fighting against his tyrannical mandates and empty threats while standing up for the rights of parents, students, small businesses and every Illinoisan who has suffered under his unconstitutional and unilateral mandates."

The East Central Reporter reports that Bailey questioned Pritzker's recently-passed budget, which calls for significant reforms to the state's tax policy, claiming the budget provides nothing to aid the state's working-class residents.

“I think it's very obvious that Pritzker, the Democratic Party, and the political elites have abandoned the working families of Illinois,” Bailey said. “It's interesting because I think now he's having a tough time with his re-election, so he's offering an empty box of chocolates right before Valentine's Day and he's calling it tax relief.

Pritzker's state budget is $112.5 billion, including $45.5 billion in general revenue and the remaining from federal revenues.