Governor JB Pritzker formally announced that he’s seeking a third term as speculation swirls about whether he’ll run for President.
The Governor touted accomplishments over the past seven years, including balanced budgets, credit upgrades, the business climate, the minimum wage, reproductive healthcare protections, banning assault weapons, and legalizing marijuana, among others.
He found room for Malort, that unique Chicago beverage.
“When I was first elected I told you that I was prepared to be a happy warrior on behalf of our state,” he said, “even if it meant going it alone. I suited up to face the carnival barkers and the misery spelunkers and doom grifters. I handed out optimism like a shot of Malort, as a swift jolt to the heart. But it turns out that Illinoisans of all shapes, races, sized, backgrounds, sports allegiances, professions and political persuasions, were ready to be happy warriors, too.”
Pritzker said when he first ran in 2017, “Illinois had gone for two years without a budget, our credit rating was in the tank, our citizens were in the dumps and our checkbook was in arrears. The minimum wage was 8 dollars and 25 cents, the state’s bill backlog was 16 billion dollars and our pension debt seemed overwhelming. Our roads and bridges were crumbling, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights and human rights were all at risk.”
He went on, “we took two years of no state budgets and transformed it into seven years of balanced budgets. We inherited a multi-billion-dollar bill backlog and we paid it off. We turned 21 credit downgrades into 9 credit upgrades. We took and 8 dollar and 25 cent minimum wage and raised it to 15 dollars. We saw our infrastructure crumbling and we went to work fixing it.”
Pritzker’s speech was largely about accomplishments.
He did have some criticism of the Trump Administration, saying “we have made big progress over the last 7 years but we have big challenges ahead and while it is certainly tempting to lay all of it at the feet of the megalomaniac narcissist in the White House and his malignant clown car in congress, the hard truth is we all share some of the blame. Its time to take our cues from the young people showing up and shouting out that you can’t abandon the fight.”
He went on to say “our story values love over hate, courage over fear, kindness over cruelty. Our story doesn’t have a cult telling us what to believe or sycophants telling us what to say or a king telling us what to do.”
Proitzker added, “everything has gotten too damn expensive and the answer does not lie in tariffs that tax our workers, budgets that gut Medicaid and Doge bros that strip research funding from our universities.”
Pritzker said it starts with growing the state’s economy and “relentlessly pursuing the industries and jobs of the future.”
The Governor’s wife, MK, was by his side as he spoke to a crowd of supporters at the at Grand Crossing Park Field House, where he announced his first run for Governor in 2017.