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15 hours ago
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JB Pritzker: From political neophyte to 43rd governor of Illinois — and potential US presidential candidate
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker this week set out to make history, launching his bid to become the first Illinois governor since the 1980s to be elected to more than two terms in office. A win next year also would make Pritzker, 60, the first Democrat ever in Illinois to win three terms. Republican James R. Thompson was Illinois' longest-serving governor, winning election four times straight and holding the office from 1977 to 1991. A century earlier, when the Grand Old Party was a new force in politics, Republican Richard Oglesby won three nonconsecutive elections, in 1864, '72 and '84, although he resigned 10 days after being sworn in for his second term to join the U.S. Senate. Two other Republicans, Dwight Green in 1948 and William Stratton in 1960, made unsuccessful third-term attempts, losing to Democrats Adlai Stevenson II and Otto Kerner, respectively. Pritzker is not expected to have significant competition for the Democratic primary in March and it remains to be seen whether any high-profile Republicans will mount a campaign to challenge him in November 2026. He's also publicly flirted with the idea of running for president in 2028. So as Pritzker embarks on another campaign, here's a look back at how the Hyatt Hotels heir went from political neophyte to 43rd governor of Illinois and potential Democratic presidential contender. Pritzker's story begins when his great-grandfather Nicholas J. Pritzker came to Chicago from Kyiv in 1881 to escape the anti-Jewish Russian pogroms in present-day Ukraine. Nicholas Pritzker eventually founded a law firm, but the family's business empire got going in the next generation, when one of Nicholas' sons and JB's grandfather, A.N. Pritzker, and great-uncle began investing in real estate and other ventures. The family is best known for Hyatt, but other high-profile investments have included Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ticketmaster and credit bureau TransUnion. Today, the extended Pritzker clan is the sixth-richest family in America, with an estimated fortune of $41.6 billion, according to Forbes. (JB's share is estimated at $3.7 billion.) Born into affluence in California in 1965, Jay Robert Pritzker — named after his two uncles and called JB for short — didn't have an idyllic childhood. Both of his parents died before he turned 18. His father, Donald, died of a heart attack in 1972 at age 39, and his mother, Sue, struggled with alcoholism. She died a decade later, almost to the day, when she leaped out of a tow truck that was pulling her car, and she was run over. Despite her struggles, Sue Pritzker's philanthropy and involvement in the Democratic Party inspired JB's interest in politics and activism, particularly in the area of reproductive rights. While he was only first elected to public office in 2018, Pritzker has long nursed political ambitions. After graduating from Duke University in the 1980s, he worked on Capitol Hill as an aide to Democratic U.S. Sens. Terry Sanford of North Carolina and Alan Dixon of Illinois. Returning to the Chicago area to attend law school at Northwestern University in the early 1990s, he formed Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century. The group sought to bring more young voices into the party and helped spur the careers of several prominent Illinois officials and Democratic operatives, including Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat. In 1998, Pritzker made his first run for public office, finishing in a disappointing third place in a Democratic primary to replace 24-term U.S. Rep. Sidney Yates. The winner was Jan Schakowsky. She went on to win the general election and has held the seat since, although Schakowsky recently announced she isn't running for another term. 'Could I live a happy life without ever running for public office again?' Pritzker said in a Tribune profile after losing the race. 'I suppose that I can imagine not running, but I feel I have something important that I can do. And my skin is far thicker now.' It would be two decades before he'd put his name on the ballot again. But ambitions lingered. In a 2008 phone call secretly recorded by federal investigators, Pritzker spoke with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose campaigns he'd contributed to, as the Chicago Democratic governor schemed over who to appoint to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama. On the call, first revealed by the Tribune during the 2018 governor's race, Pritzker expressed disinterest in the Senate appointment but suggested Blagojevich might make him state treasurer if the position became vacant. Blagojevich and Pritzker also were recorded discussing various Black officials who were potential Senate appointees in language that caused a stir during the 2018 campaign. Aside from his own aspirations, Pritzker was a major backer of Hillary Clinton in both her presidential bids, even as his older sister Penny served as finance chair for Illinois' favorite son, Obama, in 2008. Ahead of the 2016 election, JB Pritzker and his wife, MK, gave $15.6 million to pro-Clinton political action committee Priorities USA Action. Out of the political spotlight, Pritzker built up his resume as an investor and philanthropist. While his name and fortune are closely associated with Hyatt, Pritzker only worked for the family hotel business as a teenager. He made his mark in the business realm through New World Ventures, a tech-focused investment fund founded with his older brother, Anthony, and later renamed Pritzker Group Venture Capital. The brothers also started Pritzker Group, which, in addition to the venture fund, includes private equity and asset management components. In 2012, Pritzker founded the nonprofit tech incubator 1871 to help spur Chicago's tech sector, later collaborating closely with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In a 2014 profile highlighting the project, Chicago magazine dubbed Pritzker 'The Other Mayor of Chicago.' In the philanthropic world, Pritzker helped found and fund the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, and he, along with MK, launched the Pritzker Family Foundation in 2001, which funds initiatives in early childhood education and other areas. Spurred by Clinton's loss to Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and the bruising budget battles in Springfield between then-Gov. and GOP multimillionaire Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature, Pritzker entered the 2018 campaign for Illinois governor. Defeating political scion Chris Kennedy and then-state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston in the Democratic primary, Pritzker ultimately poured more than $170 million of his own money into the campaign. Combined with $79 million for Rauner, including $50 million from the incumbent himself and $22.5 million from billionaire Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, it resulted in what's believed to be the most expensive governor's race in U.S. history, which Pritzker won by nearly 16 points. Four years later, Pritzker spent another $167 million to beat back a challenge from conservative southern Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey, who got backing from billionaire ultraconservative Richard Uihlein, founder of the Uline packaging supplies firm. Pritzker's 2022 spending total included $27 million he gave to the Democratic Governors Association, which aired ads during the GOP primary labeling Bailey as too conservative. The move was a thinly veiled attempt to set up what Pritzker's team saw as an easier general election matchup, boosting Bailey among Republican primary voters over then-Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, backed by $50 million from Pritzker nemesis Griffin. Pritzker beat Bailey by 13 points that fall. Through the end of 2022, Pritzker spent nearly $350 million on the two campaigns. Over the past two years, he's deposited another $25 million in his campaign account and had $3.4 million remaining at the end of April, state records show. A hallmark of Pritzker's two terms in office has been his handling of the state's chronically shaky finances. While he failed to convince voters in 2020 to amend the state constitution to create a graduated-rate income tax, an effort into which he sunk $58 million, Pritzker has received high marks from ratings agencies and other observers for his handling of the budget. After years of downgrades, the state has seen its credit rating raised by all the major agencies, though it still ranks near the bottom compared to the other 49 states. Spending has increased by nearly a third during his time in office, without adjusting for inflation. But the state largely has avoided using gimmicks to balance the budget on Pritzker's watch and received its first credit upgrades in decades. Tighter financial times have returned, however, with the state budget that takes effect July 1 cutting funding for health insurance for noncitizen immigrants younger than 65 and pausing Pritzker's proposed expansion of state-funded preschool programs, among other trims. Rather than trying again to fix a state tax system he once described as 'unfair' and 'inadequate,' Pritzker has instead blamed Trump and his economic policies for the state's latest budget woes. Aided by overwhelming Democratic majorities in the state legislature, which he helped secure through his political largesse, Pritzker has built a resume almost any governor in the party would be happy to claim. His accomplishments in the legislature include raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, enshrining abortion rights in state law, legalizing recreational marijuana while expunging prior convictions, and enacting a $45 billion infrastructure program, the largest in state history. And that was just his first year. He has also enacted an ambitious energy policy that aims to make Illinois' energy generation carbon-free by 2050, as well as an overhaul of the criminal justice system that has eliminated cash bail. In one of the first acts of his second term, Pritzker in early 2023 signed a sweeping gun ban that prohibits the sale or possession of a long list of high-powered semiautomatic firearms and high-capacity ammunition magazines, a response to the mass shooting at Highland Park's Fourth of July parade months earlier. While facing ongoing legal challenges, the law has remained in force. More recently, he's taken on what he describes as the predatory practices of health insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers. He's also made moves, with mixed results, to position Illinois as a leader in emerging industries such as electric vehicles and quantum technology. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 tested Pritzker's leadership and, in some ways, ended a brief honeymoon period he had with some members of the legislature's Republican minority. Decisions to shut schools and issue a stay-at-home order brought the state government into people's lives in unprecedented ways. Aside from conservative criticism over Pritzker's use of executive power, the pandemic exposed problems at state agencies under his control, including an outbreak at a state-run veterans home in LaSalle that led to 36 deaths and an overwhelmed unemployment system that elicited some bipartisan criticism. His administration also has come under fire for continued problems at the beleaguered Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the handling of resident mistreatment at homes for the developmentally disabled. And a state inspector general has found rampant fraud among state employees who abused the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, a pandemic-era lifeline for businesses. Pritzker's administration also was forced to respond when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas in 2022 began sending busloads of migrants from the southern border to Chicago, creating a crisis for the city and state and inflaming tensions with Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson. The governor has also faced criticism for working with legislative Democrats to exclude Republicans from the process of allocating funds for local infrastructure projects and for not taking significant enough steps to strengthen government ethics laws, despite a sprawling federal corruption probe involving state lawmakers and local officials and a series of high-profile convictions during his tenure. A vociferous Trump critic, Pritzker has long been believed to harbor presidential ambitions, speculation he's done little to quell even as he has professed his dedication to Illinois. The governor lobbied hard to bring last year's Democratic National Convention to Chicago, serving as de facto host for an event widely seen as a success, at least until Trump emerged victorious in November. Pritzker, at least publicly, stood behind President Joe Biden until he dropped out, declining to mount a primary challenge to a sitting president or to enter the fray when Vice President Kamala Harris became the consensus pick of party leaders. He was vetted to join Harris on the ticket but was passed over in favor of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. In 2023, he launched Think Big America, a dark money group that has backed abortion rights ballot measures and pro-abortion rights candidates across the country. He's also poured money into two recent Wisconsin Supreme Court races, backing candidates that reclaimed and then maintained a liberal majority in the pivotal swing state. In addition to running his campaign for reelection next year, Pritzker is putting his force behind Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, his two-time running mate, in her Democratic primary bid for U.S. Senate. Heading into 2026, a big question is whether and how quickly Pritzker will pivot to a 2028 presidential bid if he wins a third term as governor.
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4 days ago
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Gov. JB Pritzker running for a third term in 2026, but remains mum about presidential bid
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.
