CARTERVILLE, Ill. -- The Illinois primary election is quickly approaching. One key race is for the Republican nomination in the 12th Congressional District.
Mike Bost is the incumbent. He and his wife live in Murphysboro. Bost has been a U-S Congressman since 2015. Before that, he was an Illinois State Representative for 10 years.
Bost is challenged by Darren Bailey. He and his wife live in Xenia about 30 miles south of Effingham. Bailey was elected State Representative in 2018 then moved into the State Senate in 2021.
The following year, he lost the governor's race to J-B Pritzker.
Bost and Bailey actually have a lot in common. They both strongly support former President Trump and his re-election campaign. They also stand for Second Amendment rights and tougher immigration laws. The biggest difference is, one has been in office a lot longer.
The candidates disagree over whether that's a help or a hindrance.
"I have experience, I have the ability to know how to move legislation and have a lot of those wins under my belt already," says Bost.
He says that experience helps him create change for southern Illinois and the nation.
Bost says his extended time in office makes him a better option than his opponent, Darren Bailey.
"Experience, know-how, connections, delivering on the job, I don't do this for my ego, I do it for the next generation and the next generation of my children and grandchildren," Bost explains.
Bost has already served 10 years in Congress after 20 in the Illinois House. While he contends that gives him an edge, his opponent disagrees.
"I'm running in a primary against a gentleman who's been a Congressman for 10 years," says Bailey. "He held a spot in Springfield for 20 years. IÂ look back at that and I'm not satisfied. I'm not happy. I see no accomplishments on his record and it's time for change."
Bailey says it's inaction by career politicians in Washington and Springfield that's led to apathy among voters. "They're frustrated because politicians make grand speeches and they get elected then all of a sudden, they do nothing and begin to compromise and work backwards so people throw their hands up and just walk away in a form of rebellion against the government and politics."
Bailey believes in term limits and says he'll serve no more than 10 years if elected. "I believe that term limits are the easiest way to root out lazy politicians and corrupt politicians."
Bost argues his longevity has earned him positions on key committees, including the House Veterans Affairs Committee where he serves as Chairman.
"The people of southern Illinois need to know, I'm already established on the transportation infrastructure committee," says Bost, "I'm already established on the ag committee, and ag is the second largest employer we have, the first is Scott Air Force Base. Not only that, I'm also on the V-A Committee. The experience there has granted me the opportunity to serve as full committee chair, not sub-committee, but full committee chair. The last time someone south of Springfield had a full committee chair was 42 years ago."
Bailey argues, despite Bost's experience, he hasn't delivered enough for southern Illinois.
"He serves as Chairman of the Veteran Affairs committee," says Bailey. "God bless our veterans and anyone that has served but three weeks ago I received the endorsement of Veterans for Trump because they acknowledged his failures."
Veterans for Trump issued a statement saying: "Darren Bailey is a patriot who stands for America First values and President Trump, the establishment incumbent does not."
But Donald Trump himself endorsed Bost.
The former president issued a statement saying in part: "As Chairman of the Veterans� Affairs Committee, Mike is doing an incredible job providing our Brave and Patriotic Veterans with the care they deserve.�
There are other issues on which both candidates agree. Both say more needs to be done to close our southern border.
"We have an open border, we flood our nation with illegal aliens," says Bailey, "No one's really vetting them, it's believed terrorists could very well be coming in and soon be living here in our communities."
Bost says, "Everything else is going to come apart if we don't stop and cure that problem at the border. We have done that in the House, we moved the bill over 11 months ago now, that is HR-2, which reinstates the "stay in Mexico", works on rebuilding the wall, and keeping under control the catch and release program."
Both men say they are strong defenders of the Second Amendment and stand against any bills to ban assault weapons. Bailey points to how he challenged the Illinois assault weapons ban.
"When the law went into effect to register our firearms, that was an egregious violation of our Second Amendment rights and an infringement. And I stood up and I showed our governor, here are my guns and I'm not registering, what are you going to do about it? And he's done nothing about it because he can't."
Bost says he's consistently voted against stronger gun restrictions and will continue to do so.
"What you have in D.C. is, you have a group of people that want to disguise themselves as saying 'we want to ban assault weapons' but it's the camel's nose under the tent, to take away your Second Amendment right. Instead, I'll fight to keep your Second Amendment right but deal with things like mental health and other issues that are causing the problems that exist."
Voters have their say, Tuesday, March 19. But early voting is already underway.
For more information on the candidates go to:
Bost for CongressÂ
Bailey for IllinoisÂ
