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.

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O'Connor reported from Springfield, Ill.