In the race for governor of Illinois, four Republican candidates are vying for their party’s nomination.

Recently, ABC7 interviewed Rick Heidner and Ted Dabrowski. This week, they turned their focus to the remaining candidates: former state Senator Darren Bailey and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

James Mendrick, who has called DuPage County home for over three decades, has been serving as the sheriff there since December 2018. In his conversation with ABC7, he highlighted his background as a financial crimes investigator.

“Frankly, I’ve delved into the state budget extensively, and I would employ those analytical skills to our financial planning and staffing. Illinois needs a comprehensive job task analysis. We must reassess our contracting, budgeting, and spending practices,” Mendrick stated. “Illinois isn’t struggling with revenue generation. Our state is relatively affluent with numerous income sources, but excessive spending is our real issue.”

Addressing immigration, Mendrick remarked, “Terms like safety and sanctuary are often viewed positively, but let’s examine the facts. Take the ICE raids, for instance, which have sparked widespread controversy. They are, in fact, a consequence of JB Pritzker’s policies.”

He elaborated, “If Illinois were not a sanctuary state, these raids wouldn’t be happening in the first place.”

Bailey is a former state representative and former state senator from southern Illinois, where he and his family operate a farm.

Bailey was the Republican nominee for governor in 2022.

Bailey says his number one priority, if elected, “It’s finances, it’s affordability. Property taxes have skyrocketed. And for our friends in Cook County and Chicago, as high as they are downstate, they surpassed us by far. People can’t afford to pay their property taxes. They can’t afford to pay their utility bills. These are issues that the state government should come together and meet. They should have started it last year and began to work on these issues.”

Safety is another concern. Bailey cited the case of a woman being set on fire on a CTA train. And, he said, the state is failing when it comes to educating children.

Bailey also said he tried to address immigration in 2019.

“I was told by many Chicago-area legislators, the process of becoming a naturalized citizen is just too difficult. And as a matter of fact, one thing that kept coming up was a $300 fee for the application process. And I stood up, in session, and I said ‘Hey, I want less government, I want less spending, but if we have to do something, whatever we can do to help people become naturalized citizens, let’s do that.’ And that call went unanswered,” Bailey said.