Gov. JB Pritzker running for a third term in 2026, but remains mum about presidential bid

Yahoo

4 days ago

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker will announce Thursday that he will seek a third term next year, answering a question about his immediate political future but leaving unanswered whether he will pursue a longer-term goal of running for president in 2028.
Multiple sources close to Pritzker's campaign confirmed to the Tribune Tuesday that the governor will make the announcement at in-person events in Chicago and Springfield, though exact details of what it will entail have not yet been finalized. Democratic supporters on Monday were invited to a campaign announcement for Pritzker but were not told the details.
He is the first incumbent governor to seek a third term as chief executive since the late former Republican Gov. James R. Thompson, who went on to serve four terms. Illinois has no term limits on its constitutional offices.
Pritzker's decision becomes the most significant in a series of moves in the early 2026 political season that is poised to remake Illinois' political landscape. The generational domino effect has already seen longtime politicians opt to retire or pursue higher office, moves that have created new openings for political ladder-climbers beneath them.
But the governor's move also allows Illinois' ruling Democrats to breathe a sigh of relief, leaving in place the powerful billionaire force who has led them both politically and financially for the past 6 ½ years. It also helps the party avoid the prospect of a fractious, contentious and costly primary battle to succeed him.
With his two-term running mate, Juliana Stratton, among the contenders seeking to replace retiring senior U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Pritzker does have to decide who will join him on the ticket as a lieutenant governor candidate — and who has his confidence to succeed him if he embarks on a successful presidential bid.
Pritzker spent $350 million of his own wealth in his two successful runs for governor and heavily invested in the state Democratic Party that he funded and controlled. He has spent tens of millions of dollars on building up the state Democratic Party, local ward, township and county organizations, and contributed to the leadership funds of House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch and Senate President Don Harmon to ensure state legislative supermajorities.
Republicans had their run with a wealthy benefactor, one-term venture capitalist Gov. Bruce Rauner. But the businessman had trouble understanding government and politics, lost GOP support and was easily defeated by Pritzker in 2018. With Rauner gone, the state GOP and its legislative leaders have seen his money dry up and have been at a serious financial disadvantage ever since.
Pritzker, a 60-year-old entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, is one of the nation's wealthiest politicians, with a net worth of $3.7 billion, according to Forbes. President Donald Trump is estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.5 billion.
Pritzker has yet to formally declare an interest in the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. But his actions over the past year suggest presidential ambitions as he has sought to expand his national footprint.
In 2023, he founded a national organization to advocate for abortion rights in the states. And that same year, he played a key role in bringing the 2024 Democratic National Convention to Chicago, where last year he played host to party leaders from across the country. But it was Pritzker's February State of the State address to state lawmakers — one month into Trump's second term — where he gained national attention by likening the rise of the Trump 2.0 era to Nazism in 1930s Germany.
'I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly,' said Pritzker, who is Jewish and helped found the state's Holocaust Museum. He added that he was 'watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now.'
Pritzker's speech, which occurred as national Democrats were largely leaderless in countering and criticizing Trump's early chaotic presidential moves, aimed to fill the vacuum and garnered significant attention by offering a searing response to the president for a national audience.
The speech quickly launched Pritzker into national media interviews ranging from traditional print, broadcast and cable outlets to 'The View' and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' as well as myriad podcasts. He also became a featured keynote speaker for some state Democratic organizations, including an April appearance in New Hampshire, where he called for 'mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption' against Republicans to protest the Trump administration.
'These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,' he said. 'They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box and then punish them at the ballot box.'
The Trump administration and allied Republicans criticized Pritzker for fomenting violence, something the Democratic governor called absurd coming from a president who helped incite the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, that was aimed at blocking Trump's election loss.
Pritzker has described his increased national visibility as an attempt to showcase Illinois as a bulwark against the president's policies rather than seeds for a future presidential campaign.
'There are things going on outside of the state of Illinois that have terrible negative effects on the people of Illinois, and I'm talking about what's happening in Washington, D.C.,' he said May 25. 'So the purpose, of course, is to make sure that we're having our voices heard, that we're impacting the federal discussion, and hopefully preserving the services that people in Illinois have frankly paid for and deserve.'
Even before the DNC and the State of the State speech, Pritzker had been on the national radar because of his wealth and being the chief executive of the sixth-largest state in the nation. He also was a finalist to become Kamala Harris' running mate when she ascended to become the nominee after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. Pritzker has noted that the vetting he underwent to appear on the short list of vice presidential running mates was an indication of the belief that he had the qualifications to do the job of president.
Many people close to Pritzker had expected him to seek a third term, knowing of no substantial opposition from the Republican side. During a March 18 discussion at the liberal Center for American Progress, Pritzker said that while Republicans controlled Washington, his governorship in Illinois gave him a 'bully pulpit' to challenge Trump and his allies.
'The bully pulpit that I get as governor gives me the opportunity at least to speak to what I think that our common American values are, and we are the center of the country, the heart of the country,' Pritzker said. 'So it gives me that opportunity to talk about what I think is happening in the country and the dangers that I think we're facing.'
But some leading Democratic consultants questioned a third-term bid if Pritzker was truly interested in a presidential run.
David Axelrod, a top strategist for President Barack Obama, and a senior political consultant for CNN, warned in March that 'third terms have historically been challenging for governors' and 'being governor of a state is a hard job, and it's likely to get harder these next few years and into the next term.' Consultant Pete Giangreco was more pointed, noting that Pritzker's continued attacks on Trump could lead to severe presidential actions against Illinois.
Already, the state faces economic uncertainty over federal funding in a variety of areas, including Pritzker-backed state support for immigrants and sanctuary policies, as well as gay and transgender rights.
In a May 13 CNN interview, Pritzker at first noted Axelrod was a close friend of Emanuel who 'would like to run for governor' if the seat became open, though the former mayor's interests appear largely aimed toward the White House. Still, Pritzker acknowledged Axelrod was right about third terms while also saying the job's perils can exist on 'any day as governor.'
'I do believe that we're in a moment when people have to stand up and fight,' he told CNN.
'So, the question is, how can I best participate in the fight? And so, whether that's being governor or not, whether that's, you know, potentially in the future running for president, it's just to me about we've got to win in 2026,' he said. 'If Congress doesn't become Democratically controlled in 2026, I think we're in for a very bumpy ride for the last two years of Trump's presidency.'
With his personal wealth, Pritzker can put together his own presidential campaign apparatus without any perceived status of holding office.
Now that Pritzker's decision on a third term appears to be settled, Republicans are likely to continue attacking him for placing a personal interest in the presidency above his concerns and governance of the state. Still, no significant GOP challenger to him has emerged.
Pritzker's move also places added Democratic focus on the race to succeed Durbin, who announced April 23 that he would not seek a sixth term, and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston, who on May 5 said she would not vie for a 15th term in the House.
Durbin's decision prompted U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Robin Kelly of Matteson to run for the Senate seat along with Stratton. Dozens of potential candidates have expressed interest in replacing Schakowsky, Krishnamoorthi and Kelly in the House.
Perhaps Pritzker's biggest accomplishment as governor was to bring a state of fiscal stability to a notoriously unstable Illinois — particularly after the financial problems caused by his GOP predecessor's two-year stalemate with Democratic lawmakers that left the state without a budget, causing severe cuts in social safety net programs and racking up a vast amount of unpaid bills to state vendors.
The state's credit rating has been upgraded nine times during Pritzker's tenure, from a low point of being one step above junk bond status.
Still, in seeking future fiscal stability for the state, Pritzker did suffer his most significant political loss — the 2020 voter rejection of his signature plan to change the state Constitution to replace the mandated flat-rate income tax with a graduated income tax with higher rates based on income.
Pritzker contributed $58 million to the pro-amendment Vote Yes for Fairness campaign. However, his push was opposed by Ken Griffin, then one of Illinois' wealthiest individuals and the founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund and investment group. Griffin gave $53.75 million to the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment.
In 2024, the political feud between Pritzker and Griffin continued as Griffin invested $50 million in a Republican challenger to Pritzker, Richard Irvin, who was then the mayor of Aurora. But as Irvin was headed to defeat in the GOP primary, Griffin announced he and Citadel were leaving Illinois for Florida.
An unabashed progressive, Pritzker has increased protections for abortion access for women and availability of healthcare, defended the state's sanctuary policies against Trump's push to deport immigrants, signed bans on assault weapons and so-called ghost guns and required universal background checks on firearm sales in the state.
At the same time, he enacted changes to the state's criminal justice system that ended cash bail for nonviolent offenders, expunged minor cannabis-related arrest records and approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational sale and use.
He also approved a $15 an hour state minimum wage and a massive $45 billion capital plan, Rebuild Illinois, to modernize the state's infrastructure. He adopted programs offering tax credits for electric vehicle development and is pushing to make the state a center for quantum computing. He also legalized sports betting and helped create six new casino licenses.
But his tenure has not been without controversy. His stewardship of the state during the COVID-19 pandemic was roundly criticized as overreach by Republicans with some municipal leaders ignoring business shutdown orders. Several GOP county sheriffs vowed not to enforce the state's assault weapons ban.
A state audit faulted Pritzker's Department of Public Health for its tardy response to a COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home in 2020 that killed 36 elderly military veterans. An inspector general's report ordered by Pritzker was found to have focused too narrowly on the state Department of Veterans Affairs while largely ignoring Public Health's role in the crisis.
Another state audit found Pritzker's Department of Employment Security paid out more than $5 billion in fraudulent jobless benefits in the rush to fulfill jobless claims during the pandemic.
And another 300 state employees engaged in wrongdoing by receiving more than $7 million of pandemic-era business grants to assist businesses in paying workers.
At a May 28 event, Pritzker told reporters he was proud of the job he has done as governor heading into the final days of a legislative session made complicated by budget uncertainty over Trump's actions and effects on the economy.
'I am who I am. I think you've all seen me operate. You know what I believe in,' the governor said, touting his efforts to push economic development.
'I believe very strongly that we need to grow our economy while we're also taking care of the most vulnerable in our society, not to mention preserving the services that working families deserve,' he said. 'And that's the way I've operated for six and a half years, and I'll continue to operate.'
As he pondered his political future, Pritzker delivered the commencement address to graduates of Knox College in Galesburg on June 8, where he offered them guidance on what he believes a public official and leader should be in the Trump 2.0 era — though never mentioning the president's name.
'To be in public office right now is to constantly ask yourself, 'How do I make sure I'm standing on the right side of history?' There is a simple answer: The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid. The right side of history will always expect you to be brave,' he said to a big applause.
'Expect bravery of the community around you and bravery will show up. Expect fear and fear will rule the day,' he said. 'So graduates, I expect you to be brave. I expect you to go out into this world with courage. I expect you to be true to the legacy of the very earth beneath you today. I expect you to expect the same of the people who would endeavor to lead this country.'
Chicago Tribune's Jeremy Gorner contributed.