* From Gov. Pritzker’s press conference today…

Q: Since the shooting of former President Trump over the weekend, some Republicans have accused Democrats of name calling and virtual attacks. Do you regret any of the name calling against Trump? … Do you plan to change your rhetoric?

Pritzker: I have never, and never would call for any political violence. And you can take that to the bank. That’s not anything that I’ve ever advocated. I think that there’s always hot competition in the world of ideas, in the political world. And so we all advance our own ideas and when their ideas are bad ones, we call them out.

But it’s still true that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, has been a congenital liar and is unfit for the office of President of the United States.

Having said that, I am very pleased that he remains relatively unharmed, that it was a relatively minor incident for him. And of course, saddened and find it extremely tragic that someone with apparently an assault weapon killed people at that rally for President Trump. And of course, attempted to take the life of a presidential candidate. That should never happen. And here in Illinois, as you know, we banned assault weapons, and of course, I think you’ve heard all of us that are here and elsewhere talk about the abhorrence that we have for political violence.

I followed up about the “relatively minor incident” bit and was told that the governor meant “medically.”

* Asked about the negative ad pause…

Well, I can’t speak for the broader, for anybody outside myself. I’m not deciding what ads get run. You know, I think that we’re in a political season. I think it’s appropriate for us to just take a pause and recognize that this violence needs to be called out. We need to make sure that this does not happen in American society anymore. It is extremely disappointing that people on the other side of the aisle are in just in the last few days calling for counter violence, as if there was anything that was done by Democrats here. It wasn’t. It turns out that the shooter, in fact, was a registered Republican. And I think none of us think that anybody, whatever their political party is, ought to be committing this kind of violence.

I asked who was calling for violence, and was told the governor was reacting to “some of the rhetoric online.”

* React to new veep candidate JD Vance…

I’d be happy to stay here for about 45 minutes to tell you about the history of JD Vance. But the fact is that he is someone who has very extremist views. As you may know, he is not just anti choice, against reproductive rights, but he also thinks that if you’ve been raped or have had incest committed against you that you should be forced to have that child. He is someone who has ridiculed women’s rights, and you know, there’s a pretty long list of very, very extreme views that he holds. And I think, of course, it’s in keeping with the Maga extremism of the broader Republican Party. So I’m sure he’s being accepted by them, but I think there are a whole lot of independents and Republicans who abhor what he stands for and won’t vote for that ticket. May not have before, but now, especially, will walk away because JD Vance is on the ticket.

* Pritzker then turned it over to Sen. Richard Durbin, who said…

I’ve been chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for four years. One of our responsibilities is filling the vacancies on the federal bench, as well as US Attorney positions. Under President Trump, some 86 US Attorneys were all appointed through this process with voice votes, no record votes. When we tried to do the same thing under President Biden, there was resistance, particularly from Senator Vance. He objected to the appointment filling the vacancy for US Attorney here in the Northern District of Illinois, as well as in Cleveland, in his own home state.

Three times or more, I went to the floor and asked him, confronted him with this decision, saying,’ How can you be for law and order and talk about stopping the scourge of fentanyl and other terrible things, human trafficking and deny to this president the leaders that they’re asking for in his offices?’ He said, and he repeated himself over and over, his goal was to ‘grind the Department of Justice to a halt.’ I had that printed on a board and put on the floor, and said, ‘Did you say this?’ He said, ‘I still stand by it.’ What was his thinking? Why would he want to stop career prosecutors from moving forward to protect us? He was very clear about it. It was retribution for the weaponization of the Department of Justice toward Donald Trump. It was strictly a political move, had nothing to do with the merits of the nominees or the needs to fill those positions. That does not give me a lot of hope in terms of what his politics mean for a lot of people who are looking for law and order all across the United States to protect their families and neighborhoods.

* Asked about the Teamsters’ president speaking at the RNC and rumors that the union may not endorse anyone, this is what Durbin said…

There’s not been a stronger president in the history of the United States for the union movement than Joe Biden. He has been outspoken on the issue. He doesn’t dance around or mince around when it comes to that subject. He is very direct. He supports labor unions. I do too. When they prosper and their members prosper, the middle class prospers in America we all grew in the right direction. Having said that the reality is not all members of labor unions support Democratic candidates. They are individuals making their own decisions, and some unions will go one way and some the other. I believe that Joe Biden stands by his record on unions, and I do too.

Pritzker…

I would just add that Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party have stood against workers rights, against raising wages for working families, against keeping our workplaces safe. Those are things that unions do, fighting for working families, and so I realized that you might find that there are some union members who will support Donald Trump, but you’ll also find that the majority of unions and union members understand that it’s Joe Biden that has stood up for them and is genuinely the best president that the union movement and working families have had in their lifetimes, perhaps, if not ever.