Four Republican gubernatorial hopefuls, Darren Bailey, Ted Dabrowski, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, and Barrington Hills businessman Rick Heidner, spent Thursday night unloading on Gov. JB Pritzker at a Tazewell County forum in Washington, Ill. Heidner, a late entrant into the race, used part of his stage time to issue a public apology for past political donations to prominent Chicago Democrats while standing firmly behind his business record. The exchanges came as the Republican primary remains unsettled, with early polling suggesting a clear frontrunner but a big block of voters still shopping around.
The forum, organized by the Tazewell County Republican Party, ran about 90 minutes at the Five Points auditorium and drew several hundred people, according tothe Chicago Tribune. Coverage by WGLT noted that the candidates kept circling the same pressure points: crime, pensions, property taxes, and immigration.
Heidner Apologizes for Democratic Donations
Heidner leaned into the controversy over his political giving instead of ducking it. As the Chicago Tribune reported, he labeled his donation to former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx “a huge mistake” and said a $25,000 contribution to Mayor Brandon Johnson was made as “a favor to a friend” to secure access to the mayor. Campaign records and reporting compiled by Chicago City Wire show Heidner has written checks to candidates in both parties over the years, a bipartisan streak his rivals were happy to spotlight from the stage.
Self-Funding and Business Background
On the money side, Heidner has formally seeded his campaign committee and reported putting in $1 million of his own cash to jump-start the bid, according to his campaign materials and filings. His site, Rick for Illinois, highlights his companies, including Gold Rush Gaming and Heidner Properties, and local reporting has underscored the scale of his holdings and past deals. Coverage by WTTW and others has also walked through Heidner’s previous run-ins and interactions with state regulators and the political establishment.
Where the Voters Stand
For all the tough talk, plenty of Republican voters still appear to be on the fence. An Emerson College poll released in early January and summarized by ABC7 found Darren Bailey leading among likely GOP primary voters with roughly one-third support, while more than 46 percent remained undecided. The same survey placed Heidner near the bottom of the pack, but the sheer size of the undecided bloc suggested the race is still wide open heading into the March primary, with several outlets carrying similar breakdowns of the results.
Common Themes and Sharp Lines
Despite gaps in name recognition and polling, the candidates found plenty of ideological overlap. They lined up behind rolling back parts of the SAFE-T Act, tightening immigration enforcement and cutting what they framed as wasteful state spending. WGLT captured some of the sharper rhetoric, including Ted Dabrowski’s remark that “teaching kids in Spanish in our schools … that’s got to go,” a line that drew an immediate and audible response from the crowd.
Why It Matters
Heidner’s onstage mea culpa matters for two big reasons. It gives his opponents a clean opening to question how reliably conservative he is and it puts fresh focus on whether Republican primary voters will accept his business-first pitch alongside the party’s ideological litmus tests. Reporting dating back to 2019 has tied Heidner’s business operations to broader regulatory scrutiny and prompted state pushback on at least one proposed development, a history WTTW and other outlets have revisited in their coverage. Separately, federal records show that a longtime associate, Dominic Buttitta, pleaded guilty in 2012 to charges related to running an illegal gambling operation, a conviction documented by the FBI.
The primary clock is ticking. Early voting begins in February, and the March 17 Republican primary is expected to quickly narrow the field, according to poll reporting and state election timelines cited by FOX 32 Chicago. Between now and then, the campaigns are likely to lean hard on every remaining forum, diner stop and local GOP gathering to draw sharper contrasts not just with Pritzker, but with one another.
