By Illinois Review
Ted Dabrowski says Republican gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey should be working to unite the party.
There’s just one problem: Dabrowski skipped the party’s Unity Breakfast after losing the Republican primary to Bailey.
Dabrowski made the comment in an interview published Thursday by POLITICO’s Illinois Playbook, where he defended launching his new political organization, Fight for Illinois, just weeks before the November general election.
As the Republican standard-bearer, Dabrowski suggested, Bailey bears responsibility for bringing Republicans together.
That raises an awkward question for Dabrowski himself.
After Bailey defeated him by roughly 25 points in the March 17 primary, the Illinois GOP held its traditional Unity Breakfast in Naperville to rally candidates and party leaders behind the nominees. Dabrowski and his running mate did not attend. Neither did longtime Dabrowski ally Jeanne Ives.
Nor has Dabrowski emerged as a prominent Bailey surrogate in the six months since. As Illinois Review reported last week, he has not campaigned alongside Bailey or publicly urged his supporters to back the nominee.
Instead, he has been building an organization of his own.
Illinois Review reported Wednesday that Fight for Illinois was incorporated in Delaware on May 26, roughly ten weeks after the primary. Unveiled this week, the group is soliciting donations and organizing supporters around many of the same policy issues Dabrowski emphasized during his campaign.
It comes complete with a statewide policy agenda, fundraising operation and mobile app – infrastructure that could keep his political network active well beyond 2026.
Asked by POLITICO whether he is already positioning himself for another run for governor in 2030, Dabrowski chose his words carefully.
“Today, I have no intentions of running” for governor in 2030, he said.
The answer stops short of ruling out a future campaign.
Dabrowski did not simply say he has no intention of running in 2030. He qualified it with one word: “Today.”
And with the 2026 election still weeks away, that qualification is likely to keep questions about 2030 very much alive.
By Illinois ReviewTed Dabrowski’s newly launched organization is called Fight for Illinois.But according to corporate records reviewed by Illinois Review, the organization was formed in Delaware – not...
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