Prairie State Wire

People Who Play By The Rules PAC said in a press release titled “Bailey Within Striking Distance of Pritzker: New Poll” that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s lead over GOP challenger Darren Bailey is coming to a close.  

“Fabrizio, Lee & Associates recently completed a survey of 800 likely voters in the 2022 Illinois gubernatorial general election, and it is clear that the Pritzker vs. Bailey race is tightening significantly,” Mike Koolidge, communications director for the PAC said.

“Some key takeaways: Pritzker previously was leading Bailey by 10 points in August, but Bailey has chopped that lead in half to five in September; among 'definite' voters, Pritzker is only up by three points, which is within margin of error; if you have an option of both candidates, Prizker’s lead is three; if you’ve heard of both, Pritzker is up by only one; Bailey is crushing it with Independents, leading Pritzker by 12 points; Bailey is leading among all men by two points, while Pritzker leads with women by 12; Pritzker is underwater in both total approval (49% approve vs. 50% disapprove), and strongly disapprove (45%) vs. strongly approve (just 18%). The poll's margin of error is +/- 3.46%.

The entire survey with additional data is available on the Facebook page of PBR PAC."

This is not unprecedented territory for Bailey, a state senator from Xenia, who was behind in polling earlier this year with five and half weeks to go in the GOP primary.

Bailey later marked a resounding victory over his opponents.

Pritzker has resorted to bully tactics to silence opponents in the last month and a half of the governor’s race.

LGIS’s own newspaper run was disrupted momentarily after the Pritzker campaign threatened the Daily Herald, which owns the press that was printing the newspapers that were highly critical of Pritzker.

Pritzker’s leverage over the Daily Herald is just the latest example of the governor wielding extraordinary power this campaign season when it comes to silencing dissenting voices.  

Pritzker was also successful in shutting down a TV ad by Proft’s People Who Play By The Rules PAC in which a woman’s anguished scream punctuates a daylight strong arm robbery, a scenario becoming all too familiar in suburban Chicago.

Pritzker also bullied NBC and WGN into removing an ad from Pritzker’s primary opponent, Beverly Miles, in which she accused Pritzker of her politically-motivated firing.

State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) noted his disapproval of Pritzker silencing opponents in the lead up to the election.

“JB’s mouthpiece says the papers are guilty of slander. How so? What in them is false? In fact, the governor himself is guilty of disinformation about the SAFE-T Act,” Morrison wrote in an op-ed on the issue, North Cook News reported.