Bakalis received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University in 1959, 1962, and 1966, respectively.

[2] Having built a reputation as a staunch advocate of education, in 1978, he won the Democratic nomination for governor.

During the election, Bakalis was critical of Thompson's education and tax policies and aggressively courted voters.

After his unsuccessful bid for governorship, Bakalis served as a Deputy Undersecretary in the United States Department of Education of the Jimmy Carter administration from 1980 to 1982, where he administered ten regional offices.

[5] In 2002, Bakalis made another run for governor but had to drop out before the Democratic primary because of a lack of money.