* Gov. JB Pritzker’s convention speech as prepared for delivery…

Fellow Democrats, welcome to Chicago!

We’re a great American city in a proud blue state. Our patriotism was formed in frost and in fire, and in the steel we forged to survive both.

Our love of country has been a tapestry of faith that weaves from Abraham Lincoln reuniting a house divided to Barack Obama declaring blue states and red states make one United States.

Illinois’ presidential pedigree is unmatched. And given that Vice President Kamala Harris spent some of her early life right here – I speak for the entire Illinois delegation when I say we claim her too!

Now, one president we will never claim is the con artist the Republicans nominated in Milwaukee last month.

Donald Trump once called Chicago “embarrassing.” To quote a great Chicagoan who won six world championships on these very grounds: “We take that personally.”

I had to govern for two years while Trump was President. Let me tell you what’s embarrassing.

In Illinois, we passed a massive bill to fix our roads and bridges. When Donald proposed his own plan, he turned right around and called it “stupid.”

We eliminated the grocery tax. Donald hasn’t been in a grocery store since his first bankruptcy.

Illinois invested in clean energy and the jobs it brings. Donald claimed that windmills in the ocean made the whales “a little batty.”

During COVID we supported small businesses and jobs. And Donald, well Donald told us to inject bleach.

Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich.

Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.

I meet with business leaders all the time, and there is one universal thing they all need: people. They need more workers to fill all the jobs they have – but the anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away.

Here’s the thing, Americans don’t want to be forced to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby because draconian abortion laws shut down the maternity ward.

Americans want the hope of giving birth through IVF – not the fear it might be taken away.

Americans with LGBTQ kids don’t want them facing discrimination at school because the state sanctioned it.

Americans want to go to their neighborhood grocery store and not have to worry about some random guy open carrying an AR-15.

Americans don’t want their kids to be taught in history class that slavery was a jobs program.

And if Americans are Black or brown, they want to get promoted at work without being derided as a DEI hire for the sin of being successful while not white.

Let’s be clear, it’s not woke that limits economic growth – it’s weird. These guys aren’t just weird, they’re dangerous.

Democrats are for lower taxes and higher wages, less inflation and more business growth. We just think it’s wrong to craft those policies for Elon Musk - and not for everyday working people. That includes a secure retirement and good healthcare. We think the government should help you prosper, not police who you’re sleeping with.

More than anything Democrats want economic policies that are kind, not cruel.

But Trump chooses cruelty every time. After all, everything he’s achieved in his own life has been by hurting - someone else.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Well, they’ve spent their lives lifting people up rather than pushing them down. They know that a White House that leads with kindness looks at someone who is struggling and sees not what they might cost society but what they might create for it.

They want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class.

They want to grow small businesses and cut taxes for everyday people.

More than anything – Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want a country where we can all live with a little serenity. The serenity that comes with a balanced checkbook, an affordable grocery bill, and a housing market that has room for everyone.

And if there’s one thing I know about Donald Trump – he’s not bringing anyone any kind of serenity.

We have a choice, America. Between the man who left our country a total mess -and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up. And I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job.

Vice President was a good title for Kamala Harris. You know an even better one?

President of the United States of America!

Let’s go get ‘em!

* Senate Republican Leader John Curran…

Gov. Pritzker’s DNC speech and his actual record in Illinois could not be more starkly disconnected. He contends to be for lower taxes just months after imposing $1 billion in tax increases on Illinois families and businesses, while presiding over a state with the second-highest property taxes in the country. He boasts of support for low-income families in the same year that he proposed a regressive tax increase that would only raise taxes on low- and middle-income earners. He says he supports policies for working people while overseeing the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s time for Gov. Pritzker to take a break from his national campaigning and focus on the job he was elected to, and Think Illinois

* More from Isabel…

* Block Club | Obamas, Pritzker Bring The Energy — And Clap Back At Trump: Pritzker, who was in contention to be Harris’ running mate earlier this summer, received thunderous cheers for one of his comments. “Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich,” Pritzker said. “But take it from an actual billionaire. Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.”

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker hammers Donald Trump in DNC speech: ‘Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity’: In a bit of awkward programming, Pritzker’s speech was preceded by Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who railed against the “billionaire class” and “the need to get big money out of our political process.” “Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections,” said Sanders, who received a more enthusiastic reaction than Pritzker from the United Center crowd. Pritzker spent more than $300 million of his own money to win two elections as governor in Illinois and gave at least $27 million to the Democratic Governors Association two years ago to spend on boosting his preferred opponent in the 2022 GOP primary for governor.

* Capitol News Illinois | In primetime DNC speech, Pritzker leans into role of benevolent billionaire: “Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich,” the second-term governor said during a primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention. “But take it from an actual billionaire – Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.” Pritzker, who is worth an estimated $3.4 billion thanks in large part to inherited family wealth from Hyatt Hotels, is the wealthiest current elected official in the U.S. And in the more than seven years since he declared his candidacy for governor, Pritzker has not shied away from pouring cash into not only his own election bids but campaigns up and down the ballot.

* Crain’s | After years of prep, Pritzker finally gets his DNC star turn: “We have a choice America, between the man who left our country a total mess and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up,” Pritzker told the delegates gathered at the United Center during his prime-time speaking slot. “I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job.”

* SJ-R | Obama’s 2004 DNC speech kickstarted national rise. Could the same hold true for Pritzker?: Pritzker and Obama took the stage separately Tuesday evening during day two of the Democratic National Convention. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Hoffman Estates, in addition to former First Lady Michelle Obama have also delivered speeches. The vision the 59-year-old governor shared including bolstering support for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and touting what is possible under Democratic leadership as seen in Illinois.