Macon Reporter

 State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) recently met with the Macon County Republican Women to plot strategy in his run for governor against Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“A fired-up group of people who are hungry for change in Illinois,” Bailey later posted on Facebook. “We have to fire JB Pritzker and get our state growing again. Building the grassroots movement to get it done will require a lot of hard work and long hours, but as a farmer I’m used to working until the job gets done.”

Throughout his campaign, Bailey has made getting the state’s fiscal house in order a major part of his campaign.

The veteran lawmaker also recently took Democrats to task over their support of a sex education bill.

“I sat here and I listen to this and participate in what I expect to be a prestigious body,” he said in a video posted to YouTube. “And here we are dealing with the absolute nonsense of putting perversion into our schools. That’s what this is. Teachers who are learning to teach our kids proper education have no reason to teach this stuff.”

Senate Bill 818 seeks to repeal sex education, family life and instruction on disease prevention guidelines and instead would require school districts “to provide comprehensive personal health and safety education in kindergarten through the 5th grade and comprehensive sexual health education in the 6th through 12th grades in all public schools.”

Set to take effect immediately, the measure would also require school districts “to provide age and developmentally appropriate consent education in the 3rd through 12th grades,” while establishing what the instruction and materials must include.

Bailey has also been a constant critic of the governor’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis and the way it has kept students out of the classroom.

"[Gov. J.B. Pritzker] is destroying education and our children's mental health," Bailey said in a March 16 tweet. "We should have fully opened schools a long time ago, but JB is too afraid to stand up and do what's right."