Illinois Governor JB Pritzker introduced he’s working for a 3rd time period Thursday morning.
Pritzker posted a video announcing his run on his official web site at 8 a.m. Filmed in Chestnut, Illinois, Pritzker speaks within the video in regards to the influence of President Trump’s tariffs on Illinois farmers and industry, and the present finances invoice’s intent to cut Medicaid.
He additionally touts his file, saying he is achieved seven balanced budgets in a row and 9 credit upgrades for the state of Illinois, whereas elevating the Illinois minimum wage, decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana, capping the cost of insulin, banning assault weapons, reducing prescription drug costs and creating jobs.
“We do not simply speak about issues; in Illinois, we resolve them,” he says within the video. “As a result of we all know authorities ought to face up for working households and be a drive for good, not a weapon of revenge.”
At a proper marketing campaign kickoff occasion Thursday morning on the Grand Crossing Park Fieldhouse, the place he launched his first marketing campaign for governor in 2017, Pritzker mentioned, “via each problem and each triumph, I’ve grown to like Illinois much more.”
“After I was first elected, I instructed you that I used to be ready to be a contented warrior on behalf of our state, even when it meant going it alone,” he mentioned. “Someday over the past seven years, I regarded up and realized I used to be surrounded by a military. There’s energy in saying out loud the story of Illinois will not be set in stone. We will rewrite it once we select, and we should always really feel justifiably happy with the place we come from and the place we try to go.”
Pritzker was first elected to workplace in 2018, defeating incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. In 2022, Pritzker gained a second time period in workplace, defeating Republican Darren Bailey.
There was hypothesis in current months that he might run for president in 2028, notably following a speech in April by which he took to job each President Trump and the shortcomings inside his personal Democratic Social gathering.
Pritzker has been probably the most outspoken critics of President Donald Trump. Most just lately, Pritzker called Trump’s immigration policies an “abuse of energy.”
“We is not going to take part in abuses of energy,” Pritzker mentioned after the Trump administration deployed the Nationwide Guard throughout anti-ICE protests in LA. “We is not going to violate courtroom orders. We is not going to ignore the Structure. We is not going to defy the Supreme Courtroom. We is not going to take away folks’s proper to peacefully protest. We additionally respect and anticipate this administration to respect the traditions and authorized precedents that dictate how and when our Nationwide Guard and navy are deployed.”
Pritzker on Thursday declined to decide to serving his complete time period if he is re-elected, or to say if he plans to run for president in 2028.
“I am working for governor right now as a result of I need to be governor of Illinois. I’ve labored laborious to get our state transferring ahead, and we’ve got but extra to do,” he mentioned. “Every thing that I do, really the whole lot that I do in my job and every single day once I get up is about enhancing the lot of people that stay within the state of Illinois, lifting up the working households of Illinois. No matter I do going ahead goes to be about that
Along with his formal marketing campaign announcement in Chicago on Thursday morning, Pritzker is scheduled to carry marketing campaign occasions later Thursday in Rockford, Peoria, and Springfield. He’ll make further marketing campaign stops Friday in Belleville and West Frankfort.
Pritzker has but to announce a working mate for his re-election marketing campaign. Sitting Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton will be running for the U.S. Senate in 2026, after Sen. Dick Durbin introduced earlier this yr he is not going to be working for re-election.
Meantime, Republican DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick additionally has introduced a bid for governor, as has Joseph Severino, who ran for Congress towards U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider as a Republican in 2022 and as an unbiased write-in candidate in 2024. South suburban mechanic Phillip Perez additionally has introduced an unbiased marketing campaign for governor.
