Tuesday, November 8, 2022, is the day of the midterm election. Midterm elections happen every four years, halfway through a president’s term. One of the more important elections that will happen that day this year is the gubernatorial election in Illinois. JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey will be up against each other fighting for four years in Springfield.

JB Pritzker, the current governor of Illinois, is up for reelection and has been focusing his campaign on the growth of our economy, balancing the state budget, and most importantly, abortion rights. As you may have noticed, Pritzker has funded ads that have been directed towards Darren Bailey’s opposition to abortion and Pritzker’s strong belief in protecting women’s reproductive rights. 

Darren Bailey, a member of the Illinois Senate, doesn’t back down from Pritzker’s challenges. During one of his debates with Pritzker, Bailey states, “Illinois has the most permissive abortion laws in the nation. Nothing’s going to change when I’m governor.” Bailey’s claim during the debate weakened the impact of Pritzker’s efforts, but it has still left a mark. Later in the debate, Bailey stated that he has been trying to fix the issues that are causing many problems for Illinois: crime, taxes, and education. 

As of this last quarter, both Pritzker and Bailey are still going at full power with both of them furthering their campaign and holding rallies. Pritzker has spent $38 million just for this last quarter’s campaign while Darren Bailey has spent $1.6 million. The polls from a few weeks before the elections tell us that the people surveyed seem to favor JB Pritzker more than Darren Bailey. However, a recent WGN poll shows that the governor race for Illinois will only get closer with Pritzker leading at 50.4 percent and Bailey at 40.8 percent.

Other gubernatorial elections have also heated up throughout the country, especially in Texas. After the 2021 Texas power crisis and the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, the gubernatorial race in the Lone Star State between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke has garnered national attention for months. Greg Abbott is one of the most powerful governors in the country, and his profound policies have been a contentious subject of debate. A former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Beto O’Rourke has been vying to lead Texas in a new direction. Born and raised in El Paso, O’Rourke has held rallies throughout Texas to garner support.

Major Senate races are also taking place across the country. In Pennsylvania, following the retirement of Republican incumbent Pat Toomey, Democrats have pushed hard to try and flip that seat. Democratic challenger John Fetterman, who previously served as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, faces off against Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television personality, in the Pennsylvania election. Considering that Pennsylvania is a swing state and voter turnout is expected to reach higher numbers than in previous years, this election will no doubt be one of the most closely scrutinized. 

There is also an important Senate election in Georgia. Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock faces Republican challenger and former Heisman trophy winner Herschel Walker. The Senate race in Georgia has intrigued Americans across the country. In 2020, Georgia was a critical swing state that Joe Biden closely won en route to the presidency. Furthermore, Walker has been the subject of scandal, facing several accusations from women who claim he paid for them to have abortions. The Georgia race will no doubt be one of the closest ones this Election Day, and Americans will soon find out if the Peach State is one Democrats again win in or one Republicans reclaim.