Gas is obviously a big issue for folks.

Well, let's clarify the grocery thing first of all.

The grocery tax is not something that they actually repeal.

The grocery tax is something that the state of Illinois collected on behalf of local municipalities.

And once they collected it, they were supposed to distribute that on a pro rata share to all your cities and villages.

And when they removed that tax, it just left a hole in local municipalities' budgets that the state was collecting on their behalf.

And so when you talk about removing that tax, I don't think that's an actual – accomplishment that anyone should be proud of.

On the topic of utilities, how can Illinois sustain a reliable, affordable energy grid without raising rates

[laughs]

But here's, here's what we're really seeing, is that Darren and I will be out.

We're having- We'll be having breakfast, we'll be having lunch, or we'll be, you know, at an event or a town hall or whatever, and people come up to us and they'll say, "Hey, I'm voting for you guys.

I'm excited.

Uh, you know, we can't stand Pritzker." You know, all kind of the similar message, but they whisper.

And, you know, we're always thankful, but it really, in my heart and my mind, I'm like, why are you whispering? Why can't you be proud of who you are? Be proud of, uh, you know, what you believe and br- be proud that you're gonna be voting for a Republican ticket.

You know, they whisper to you like they're talking about, you know, a bad joke, and I think that's a problem.

Yeah

But do you, in listening to Jim Durkin, do you... wash away everything he says or see at least a point in the fact that even this rematch looks different having you on the ticket.

Well, I think this rematch is something very interesting because we're taking the northern part of the state, Chicago, me being a hometown Chicago guy growing up in Portage Park, me living in suburban Palatine and taking the rural areas of Illinois where Darren lives in southeastern Clay County and uniting the party, uniting Illinois and having an executive branch that understands every aspect in all 102 counties of Illinois.

I think that's what Illinois needs, not just somebody that's going to be concentrated on the northern state and, you know, the disinvestment that you've seen in the rural parts of the state.

You know, 74% of Illinois is farming community.

It is agriculture and what makes our national safety, you know, something that's key to United States.

And Jim Durkin is simply looking out for Jim Durkin.

He's not looking out for anybody else besides himself.

Pritzker.

Why do you think that you can win? What do you offer the people of Illinois?

We're often really the basic core strategy that we need to win in Illinois that affects all 102 counties of the Prairie State.

It's affordability.

Under J.B. Pritzker, he's doubled our budget.

He went from $38 billion to $56 billion.

He added a tollway tax.

He increased the sales tax in the collar counties.

That's what the Democrats say.

Why do you think that you can win? What do you offer the people of Illinois?

We're often really the basic core strategy that we need to win in Illinois that affects all 102 counties of the Prairie State.

It's affordability.

Under J.B. Pritzker, he's doubled our budget.

He went from $38 billion to $56 billion.

He added a tollway tax.

He increased the sales tax in the collar counties.

That's what the Democrats

Why do you think that you can win? What do you offer the people of Illinois?

We're often really the basic core strategy that we need to win in Illinois that affects all 102 counties of the Prairie State.

It's affordability.

Under J.B. Pritzker, he's doubled our budget.

He went from $38 billion to $56 billion.

He added a tollway tax.

He increased the sales tax in the collar counties.

That's what the Democrats

Yeah

... commercial zoning, you have industrial zoning, you have residential zoning.

Each of those areas are designed specifically to keeping with the neighborhood, right? And so that's number one, keeping with the form and control of the neighborhood.

Number two is the cost associated with it.

There's many places in Cook County, using an example 'cause that's where we're at, that are unincorporated, and they're gonna continue to be unincorporated because to bring them in and to bring public services and infrastructure would cost more money than they're going to get in the property tax that they get from it.

So that stay that way.

These are the things that we can change.

Have you run this past Eric Adams first?

So with that said, have you and Darren, uh, reached out to, uh, Trump? Is there gonna be any federal money that can get pumped into this election to get the message out there? Because you know, uh, money is gonna help win this thing, and you guys, you guys need to get the message out.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, that's 100% true.

Uh, you saw about a week ago, um, Donald Trump was interviewed at the White House talking about JB Pritzker, and he called him a slob of a governor, and he, and he said he really liked Darren Bailey.

I mean, you know, if we're gonna do something, um, with the president, it's gonna be deliberate.

It's gonna be strategic in a way that, you know, we can get the value of getting Trump supporters that are in Illinois out, but not at the expense of alienating suburban, uh, suburban women.

But I could tell you one thing, I mean, you know, the polling's the polling.

What, uh, what do you guys have coming up? Is there anything, uh, campaign-wise on the trail that, uh, that, uh, listeners can come to, or where can we see you? You got any fundraisers? What's going on?