Gov. JB Pritzker is running for reelection. Who will he pick as his No. 2?

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

Gov. JB Pritzker is hiring. Job duties include cutting ribbons and influencing state policy. Opportunities for promotion? Pending the outcome of the 2028 presidential race.
As the governor begins campaigning for his third term, the question of who will be the chief executive's second-in-command is the biggest in Illinois' political world this summer.
The job will become vacant with the state's two-term lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
'They've got to be somebody who can do the job — if something happens and they had to take over,' Pritzker said, describing his ideal running mate to reporters Thursday in Chicago. 'And I think just as importantly, somebody who really has a heart for the people of the state of Illinois. That's not in everybody, right? But you got to have somebody who actually cares about all parts of the state.'
Whoever takes on the job will not only need to jibe with the governor in the traditional duties of the office, but also prepare to take on a greater role than most lieutenant governors have historically due to Pritzker's presidential interests.
Should Pritzker win the presidency, the lieutenant governor would take over the final two years of the governor's four-year term and be expected to pursue the work Pritzker has initiated. And although a lieutenant governor — a position that's derisively been called 'lite gov' because the office's powers are so minuscule — has no more responsibility running state government when the governor is out of state, the next such officeholder may be be expected to step up more than predecessors, should Pritzker spend considerable time campaigning across the country.
Pritzker, who announced his bid for a third term as governor on Thursday, has repeatedly said he loves the job. But the billionaire governor's kickoff last week repeatedly hit on national themes, and Pritzker continued to hammer President Donald Trump, which only amplified the view that Pritzker would make a bid for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, potentially handing the state of Illinois to a successor.
As with any politician who chooses a running mate, Pritzker will have to weigh his own political considerations and the aspirants' governing qualifications. And this year, he may have an eye on both the 2026 Illinois election and Democratic voters nationwide who will examine his record two years down the road.
'I imagine he's looking for the same thing he did before: someone who would be a good partner and ultimately could take the reins if they needed to,' said Aviva Bowen, a Democratic political consultant at The Strategy Group in Chicago.
The Tribune spoke to five strategists and Democrats close to the administration for their insights on Pritzker's likely thinking on picking a running mate. Most who spoke to the Tribune declined to be identified in discussing which individuals the governor might choose because they couldn't speak for the campaign.
Among those who likely top the list are Andy Manar, the former downstate state senator and Pritzker's current deputy governor on budget issues; Christian Mitchell, a former state representative from Chicago and ex-deputy governor for Pritzker; state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, who was previously a lead budget negotiator in the House; and state Rep. Elizabeth 'Lisa' Hernandez of Cicero, chair of the Illinois Democratic Party.
None of those potential contenders returned requests for comment.
Sources emphasized that those four didn't constitute a complete list and noted the governor has deep ties to the private and philanthropic sectors, as well as across government. The governor himself remained mum last week on whom he might select from Illinois' Democratic bench.
The key factors observers said candidates will need to bring: the ability to run the state and carry on Pritzker's legacy if circumstances call for it and the 'je ne sais quoi' compatibility that makes a good work partner. Loyalty to the governor, life experiences different from Pritzker's and a lack of perceived ambition to use the office as a steppingstone could also be attractive qualities, several of the sources said.
In Springfield Thursday night, Pritzker said he'd likely make a decision by the end of July — prior to the first day that candidates in 2026 can begin circulating candidacy petitions to appear on the March primary ballot.
Lieutenant governors in Illinois are constitutional officers with few constitutionally ordained duties, the most important of which is to take over for a governor who is incapacitated, deceased, quits or is removed from office.
They can make the role their own, given their background and interests, which allows them to elevate specific issues; however, policy areas are also split under Pritzker's current structure among four deputy governors.
When she was selected, Stratton had a background in public safety and criminal justice, having served as an attorney and one-term member in the General Assembly.
Pritzker, at his Chicago campaign announcement Thursday, described Stratton as a 'state representative and discerning policy wonk who had slayed a pro-Rauner Democrat and was endorsed by Barack Obama.' In 2016, Stratton earned the backing of President Barack Obama over incumbent Rep. Ken Dunkin of Chicago, who received campaign help from allies of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and had assisted Rauner in his budget battles with Democrats.
'Juliana Stratton is a fighter for children and working families, and is now the first Black lieutenant governor of the state of Illinois,' he said, adding later to reporters that her successor has 'got to live up to the standard that's already been set by the best lieutenant governor our state's ever had.'
Pritzker, who was himself vetted as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race, may also consider race and gender diversity on the ticket for the upcoming election, several of the strategists said.
But as a two-term governor in a blue state, Pritzker has the luxury of not having to make a choice under the usual constraints of seeking a political advantage, said Robin Johnson, a governmental relations, public policy and political consultant.
'He can afford to be a little more focused on just preserving his legacy, versus what other considerations might be in a normal campaign cycle' such as race or geography, said Johnson, who also is an adjunct professor of political science at Monmouth College in far west central Illinois.
The potential contenders to become Pritzker's next lieutenant governor have a range of work and lived experiences.
Given his current role, Manar has a deep understanding of the state's finances and budgeting process. He's also from downstate Bunker Hill, which would balance the ticket with the Chicago-based governor. At the same time, selecting Manar, who is white, would mark a departure from racial diversity at the top of the ticket.
When Mitchell, who is Black, was a deputy governor, he was a lead strategist on energy issues, including the state's 2021 climate bill. Since 2023, he's worked at the University of Chicago, overseeing government relations and other offices. Last year, Pritzker appointed Mitchell to the board of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns McCormick Place and Navy Pier.
Gordon-Booth, who represents the Peoria area, is an assistant House majority leader and last year was the top House negotiator for the state budget, though she was replaced this year by three other state lawmakers.
While appearing in Peoria for his reelection announcement Thursday, Pritzker was introduced by Gordon-Booth, and he referenced her when asked about whom he might pick as his running mate.
'There are some qualified people across the state. There's one right behind me,' Pritzker said in a nod to Gordon-Booth, according to WGLT.
'When you win, you gotta represent everybody and I know Jehan Gordon-Booth has done that in her job as state representative,' Pritzker said. 'Who would not want Jehan Gordon-Booth as a leader in this state?'
A west suburbanite, Hernandez, the first Latina chair of the state Democratic Party, is not a member of the administration but rose to lead Illinois Democrats with Pritzker's support.
Picking a downstater would be appreciated by regional Democrats, Johnson said. But it would not necessarily provide a big political boost for Pritzker as much of the region has shifted solidly Republican and leadership in some counties has pushed them to separate from Chicago and the suburbs.
Additionally, Johnson said he does not think Pritzker faces a political risk by selecting a white or male candidate to succeed Stratton, a Black woman, as his running mate.
'If anybody can do it, Pritzker can. I think he's shown in his appointments and his policies that he has helped the African American community and the Latino community quite a bit,' Johnson said.
Candidates for Illinois governor and lieutenant governor only recently began running as a team. For decades, candidates ran separately, at times creating some odd couplings.
In 1968, when Republican Richard B. Ogilvie was elected governor, voters separately elected future U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, a Democrat, as the state's No. 2. It was the first and only time that the top two positions were held by politicians of opposite parties when the offices were separately elected.
Four years later, Simon made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor and backed future Attorney General Neil Hartigan as his running mate. Simon lost the bid for governor to Dan Walker, but Hartigan went on to win the lieutenant governor's post and served with Walker.
The last person to ascend from the lieutenant governor position to the governor's mansion was former Gov. Pat Quinn in 2009, after then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office.
Under the old system, the two men ran in separate primaries. Quinn, a former state treasurer, won the lieutenant governorship in 2002 on his second try, four years after he lost a primary bid for the office to then-Kane County Coroner Mary Lou Kearns by fewer than 1,500 votes.
During Quinn's time as lieutenant governor, he and Blagojevich were not close, Quinn said in an interview last week.
Quinn himself signed the law in 2010 that changed the separate primary elections after a scandal in which primary voters paired Quinn with lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen, a pawnbroker and political neophyte who had previously been accused of failing to pay child support and spending money on extramarital affairs. Cohen later dropped out of the race, making his announcement during the halftime of the Super Bowl.
Before the current governor's first term, Quinn said, he recommended to Pritzker two top qualities in a governing partner: 'Honest and competent.' And open to ethics reform, he added.
While there may be a more straightforward path for the upcoming lieutenant governor, Quinn, who went on to win a full term, said he did not think he was on the way to becoming governor when he ran for the lieutenant governor spot.
'There was always jokes about that,' he said last week, adding: 'I don't think I ever would have been picked by a governor candidate when I ran in 2002.'