Southern Illinois News

One after the other, big-name corporations are moving out of Illinois, and it's because of the state's bad business environment, GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) said.

Bailey blames Gov. J.B. Pritzker for instituting measures that aren't business-friendly.

"Southern Illinois residents understand all too well what J.B. Pritzker’s policies are doing to their communities," Bailey said. "The outmigration from Illinois is something southern Illinois border communities sadly see all of the time. The reason people are leaving is because of our state’s hostile business environment. The result is job loss and population loss. J.B. Pritzker refuses to talk about what is happening under his watch because his policies are the reason these companies are leaving. We can’t keep pretending these problems don’t exist. It is time to confront them head-on. J.B. Pritzker is unwilling to do the job."

Bailey will be challenging Pritzker who is seeking re-election, on Nov. 8.

"It is time we had a governor who will implement the policies we know will reverse the mass exodus from our state," Bailey said. "States like Florida and Texas have provided the blueprint to economic growth. We need a governor who will follow their lead and turn our economy around."

On Aug. 15, the Wall Street Journal released a video that summed up the closing of significant corporate facilities. 

“After years of operating in Illinois, three major companies—Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel—are moving their headquarters out of the state. In this video, WSJ looks at the economic and political implications,” the Wall Street Journal said in its preview of the video.

Among the known companies making its exodus is the most well-known producer of aircraft, Boeing. It announced that it would leave the region beginning in May. In 2001, the aerospace giant, which was founded in Washington, moved to Chicago, NBC 5 Chicago reported. The COVID outbreak resulted in the loss of more than 16,000 jobs, or more than 10% of the company's employees.

By June, another big name announced its intent to move out of Illinois. Caterpillar announced that it would  move its corporate headquarters to Irving, Texas. Caterpillar's chairman and CEO, Jim Umpleby, said that the decision was made with the company's "strategic interest" in mind, according to the Chicago Tribune. According to Caterpillar, there would be no impact on its more than 200 employees at the corporate headquarters.

Citadel Securities, a company owned by billionaire Ken Griffin, asserts that the decision to relocate from Chicago to Miami was primarily motivated by security issues. “The firms are having difficulty recruiting top talent from across the world to Chicago given the rising and senseless violence in the city,” Zia Ahmed, a Citadel spokesman, told The New York Times. “Talent wants to live in cities where they feel safe.” 

Griffin had backed Bailey's primary race opponent, Richard Irvin with $50 million.