Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was passed over in the Harris campaign veepstakes. How has the billionaire navigated the party and what might he win or lose at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago?
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Next week we’ll be hosting ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker will be on hand to welcome delegates, journalists and others. He is heir to the Hyatt hotel chain and widely thought to have aspirations for the national political stage. He was floated as a possible vice presidential candidate this year. Alex Degman of member station WBEZ has more on the billionaire governor’s aspirations.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Please welcome Governor J.B. Pritzker.
ALEX DEGMAN, BYLINE: It’s Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, and wearing a short-sleeved checkered shirt tucked into khakis, Pritzker is hyping up a crowd to vote for Kamala Harris to be the next president.
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J B PRITZKER: (Chanting) Kamala. Kamala.
Let’s go win it, everybody.
DEGMAN: Earlier this month, he was one of a handful of Democratic governors getting vetted to be Harris’ possible running mate. When he was passed over, he praised the ultimate VP nominee, Tim Walz, as a kind and decent human being and said that he really likes being Illinois governor. As the state’s top elected official, Pritzker will be a major figurehead of the convention. It’s an opportunity for him to continue building his brand, but he says, it’s not about him.
PRITZKER: Well, this is about the legacy of the people that we’re trying to elect. So we’re going to be raising up Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and we’re going to be showing off the great things about the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois.
DEGMAN: Well, and surely, a good convention reflects well on you.
PRITZKER: I just want to be a good, you know, host.
DEGMAN: Pritzker was first elected six years ago. At the time, Illinois was still the butt of national jokes for the number of governors it had in jail and how bad its finances were, so Pritzker mainly focused on fixing the state. But a few years later, he became one of former President Trump’s loudest critics.
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PRITZKER: To the fake patriots and their enablers, you don’t love the United States if you’re not willing to defend it against a man who would destroy it.
DEGMAN: That speech after Pritzker’s reelection victory in 2022 got people talking about his national ambitions. He gave tongue-in-cheek instructions to Northwestern University’s graduating class last year on how to, quote, “spot an idiot.” It went viral.
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PRITZKER: They can dazzle you with words and misdirection. They can get promoted above you at work. They can even be elected president.
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DEGMAN: Pritzker’s critics blame him for Chicago’s high violent crime rates and Illinois’ flattening population numbers. But he’s overseen credit rating upgrades and more stable state budgets while ticking items off his progressive wish list – things like a higher minimum wage, legalizing recreational cannabis use and the end of cash bail. Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, says, the DNC is an opportunity for Pritzker to leverage those policy wins.
KENT REDFIELD: It’s Pritzker’s convention.
DEGMAN: He believes Pritzker has his eyes set on higher office, even though the governor himself won’t admit that.
REDFIELD: He clearly viewed this as, you know, this is an opportunity for me to go national, to get recognition, to show that I can deliver.
DEGMAN: How well the convention goes remains to be seen. A coalition of activist groups says, tens of thousands of people will protest around the event in support of Palestine throughout the week. Organizers say the march route they’ve been granted isn’t big enough and will likely result in people getting arrested. Redfield says, ordinary voters might not care about how smoothly things run, but the party certainly does.
REDFIELD: If it’s a successful convention, that gives him a lot of recognition and a lot of positive things to build on as he moves towards whatever is next.
DEGMAN: There are no term limits for Illinois governors, and Pritzker hasn’t definitively said whether he wants to run again in 2026 or if he’d consider taking over for Walz as chair of the powerful Democratic Governors Association. Pritzker is expected to give a primetime speech at the DNC on Tuesday. For NPR News, I’m Alex Degman in Springfield.
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