The Republican nominee for governor of Illinois is under fire after a 2017 video resurfaced of him saying that the Holocaust “doesn’t even compare” to the issue of abortion.
In the video published on Facebook, current Illinois state senator Darren Bailey said that “the attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II doesn’t even compare on a shadow of the life that has been lost with abortion”.
Mr Bailey, who won the Republican nomination for governor in a landslide in June with former President Donald Trump’s backing, has long positioned himself as a staunch opponent of abortion rights — even going so far as to oppose abortions in cases of rape and incest.
The suggestion that abortion represents a greater tragedy than the Holocaust was especially alarming to critics given that it re-emerged at a time when incidents of antisemitism are on the rise in the US. The Jewish news site the Forward first called attention to Mr Bailey’s comments in an article published on 1 August.
The next day, Governor JB Pritzker, Mr Bailey’s Democratic opponent, cut an advertisement highlighting the statement with the message that Mr Bailey is “too extreme for Illinois.” Mr Pritzker is Jewish.
In response to the Forward article, Mr Bailey released a statement in which he called the Holocaust a “human tragedy without parallel.”
“In no way was I attempting to diminish the atrocities of the Holocaust and its stain on history,” Mr Bailey said. “I meant to emphasize the tragedy of millions of babies being lost. I support and have met with many people in the Jewish community in Illinois and look forward to continuing to work with them to make Illinois a safer and more affordable place for everyone.”
Mr Bailey is a heavy underdog in the race against Mr Pritzker, the popular Democratic governor who is being floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2024 should President Joe Biden decide not to seek re-election.
Mr Pritzker, whose family owns the Hyatt hotel chain, beat incumbent Republican governor Bruce Rauner by 15 percentage points in 2018. He led a recent poll of the matchup against Mr Bailey by ten points, 49-39.
Mr Bailey’s brief general election campaign has already had its share of missteps. After a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in the disproportionately Jewish Chicago suburb of Highland Park left seven people dead and nearly 50 more wounded, Mr Bailey said that “Let’s pray for justice to prevail, and then let’s move on and let’s celebrate the independence of this nation.”
He later apologised for the remark.
