Latest news with #thirdTerm
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to seek a 3rd term amid questions about higher political ambitions
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will seek a third term in office next year amid growing questions about the Democrat's ambitions for higher office. The Democrat will announce his intentions Thursday at an event in Chicago, according to two people familiar with his plans who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the events. The 60-year-old wealthy businessman was a top contender as Kamala Harris' running mate during her 2024 presidential run. Pritzker, who has spent years building his national political profile, remains a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. He has often been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for his party, fanned by travel to New Hampshire, fundraising and campaigning for Democrats across the country. It's not clear if he may still consider a bid in 2028 or later. '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?'' he said at a June commencement address at Knox College in Illinois. '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.' Illinois does not have term limits. Pritzker is the first governor to seek a third term since Republican Jim Thompson in 1982. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, is a former private equity investor and a philanthropist. He became governor in 2019, his first time serving in public office after losing a 1998 Democratic primary for a suburban congressional seat. He bested a crowded primary field for governor and went on to defeat one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist. The 2018 matchup was one of the nation's most expensive statewide political races, with more than $250 million raised between the largely self-funded candidates. Questions about the wealth and relatability of both candidates — who each have buildings in Chicago named after their families — came up often. For instance, Pritzker faced questions about his Chicago mansion's property taxes. He received a tax break after having the toilets removed from a second mansion he owns next to his family residence and declaring it 'uninhabitable.' Pritzker later repaid the county about $330,000. Working with Democratic supermajorities in the House and Senate, Pritzker has boasted balanced budgets and paid down billions of dollars in debt, prompting several upgrades. He also has overseen increased education funding, the centralization of early childhood services, and new laws to make health insurance more comprehensive, accessible and affordable. After receiving generally high marks in his first term for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pritzker defeated a Trump-endorsed Republican with 55% of the vote to become the first Illinois governor to be elected to a second term in 16 years. He promptly delivered a victory speech that seemed bound for a national campaign, denouncing Trump and asking: 'Are you ready to fight?' He has continued to be among Trump's most vocal, no-holds-barred critics. 'Donald Trump is a convicted felon, liable for sexual assault, and a congenital liar,' Pritzker said after Trump's speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. 'He is a man who remains wholly unfit for the office of the presidency, both in temperament and character.' In February, Pritzker, who is Jewish, compared the Trump administration to Nazi Germany 'I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust,' he said in February. 'Here's what I've learned: The root that tears apart your house's foundation begins as a seed, a seed of distrust and hate and blame.' Pritzker, whose net worth is estimated as $3.7 billion by Forbes, has also bankrolled his political organization, 'Think Big America.' It aims to protect abortion rights and has supported state constitutional amendments to strengthen those protections in Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. Pritzker says the fight for abortion rights is personal and credits his mother Sue with sparking his early interest in the cause when they attended abortion-rights rallies together. His mother died in a car accident when he was a teen. His father, Donald Pritzker, died years earlier of a heart attack when JB Pritzker was a young boy. Pritzker is married with two children. He has several prominent family members. His sister Penny Pritzker, is a former U.S. special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery and was a U.S. commerce secretary in the Obama administration. ___ O'Connor reported from Springfield, Ill.
CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to announce run for third term this week, source says
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will announce this week that he is running for a third term, a person familiar with the governor's plans confirmed Tuesday. The announcement will take place on Thursday, the sources said. Pritzker, a Democrat, was first elected to office in 2018, defeating incumbent Republican Gov. Brue Rauner. In 2022, Pritzker won a second term in office, defeating Republican Darren Bailey. There has been speculation in recent months that he might run for president in the future — particularly following a speech in April in which he took to task both President Trump and the shortcomings within his own Democratic Party.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
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.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump reveals his real reason for looking at serving a third term in speech to troops in Qatar
President Donald Trump again teased running for a third term during a speech to U.S. servicemembers at the country's largest base in the Middle East. Trump appeared at the Al Udeid Air Base located outside of Doha in Qatar on Thursday, as part of this three-country tour of the region. Before an audience of more than 1,000, Trump again pushed that he had won the 2020 election. 'We won three elections, OK? And some people want us to do a fourth. I don't know. I'll have to think about it,' the president said. He then revealed the real reason he kept bringing it up. 'The hottest hat is, it says "Trump 2028." We're driving the left crazy when you see that,' Trump said. The Constitution says that a president can't serve more than two terms - an amendment that was added after Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times. Democratic critics have used Trump's third term chatter to say that he's trying to defy the Constitution. While the president is touring three countries in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - he's continued to talk domestic politics like he was at home. Earlier Thursday he made a jab at former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran for the White House in the Democratic primary in 2020 - and could possibly launch another bid. 'Can you believe it? He's running the biggest air system in the world, and he takes a bicycle to work, what a - and they say he's going to run for president,' Trump scoffed at a breakfast in Doha with business leaders. 'I don't see it. Who knows but I don't see it.' If elected, Buttigieg, 43, would be the first openly gay U.S. president. The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana visited Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday sparking speculation he'll run for the White House in 2028. During the visit, Buttigieg spanked Trump and his MAGA-filled administration. 'There is a parade of horribles emanating from this White House,' the ex-Transporation secretary said. 'The American people bow to no king.' Buttigieg also recalled the last time he spent time in the Hawkeye State, 'I was sort of winning the Iowa caucus.' During the 2020 caucus the app the Democrats were using to tabulate the results crashed and the winner wasn't known immediately. It was eventually determined that Buttigieg had won the caucus as its traditionally held, but progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders also called it a win due to earning the most pure votes. During President Joe Biden's leadership of the party, the Democratic primaries were reordered with Iowa losing its first-place caucus and South Carolina going first.
