Today’s quotable
Thursday, Mar 19, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Gov. JB Pritzker’s press conference today…
Juliana Stratton won her race because she was the best candidate in that race. And importantly, I think you guys saw that she got outspent more than three to one with all the money that went into the other candidate, the other leading candidate, versus all the money that was supporting her. Three to one she was outspent.
Why is it that you can overcome that kind of onslaught? It’s because she’s a genuine person who people believe. When she stands up and says what she believes in, people look at her and understand she’s been advocating for them for her entire career. And she’s somebody who, when she stands up and says, This is what she believes. Oh, by the way, the things that she believes are things that I think people across the state of Illinois believe, like we ought to raise the minimum wage. You know what the rate the minimum wage is in the United States? The federal minimum wage $7.25 that’s $14,000 a year. You cannot survive as a single person on $14,000 a year. You just can’t and yet the Congress hasn’t done anything about that. Oh, the tipped wage, just if you want to be really outraged, is $2.20. So she’s proposed a $25 minimum wage. You could have debates about whether it should be 10 or 15 or 25 or $30 that there are debates going on all the time about that. But she stood up and said what she believed, and she’s going to go fight for that, and that’s why people voted for that, and because they believe her heart.
- Warmest - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:28 pm:
I appreciate the Governor, but let’s not couch this. His billions won her the race. Without him, she would certainly have struggled. I have no problems with it, except to say he’s not being genuine. His money, and because he is a billionaire, he was able to spend and raise what he did on her behalf, which won her the race. I don’t appreciate him pretending not to be a billionaire and making it sound like the other team was bad. She won because she received more votes than the others. Period.
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:31 pm:
- I appreciate the Governor -
Doesn’t sound like it.
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
- I have no problems with it -
Doesn’t sound like it.
- Pundent - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:35 pm:
I believe what this primary showed us is that just because you have far more resources it doesn’t matter if you aren’t connecting with the voters. Raja ran a very safe campaign in a cycle that required otherwise. Simply putting more and more money behind an empty suit might just further burnish that image with the voters instead of creating a compelling reason for them to cast a vote in your favor. Stratton was focused on standing out while Raja was content with blending in.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:35 pm:
=Juliana Stratton won her race because she was the best candidate in that race.=
Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t think that statement is always true. Look at the 2024 presidential election.
- okay - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:35 pm:
The Governor’s money definitely made her competitive but it was not enough for her to win this race. She won because she ran in a primary on a progressive agenda. More politicians should take that as a lesson about where the party is right now.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:37 pm:
=== Look at the 2024 presidential election===
He ran a much better campaign and was the better candidate. Wasn’t true in 2020, but it was in 24.
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:37 pm:
The grapes are especially sour this year, eh.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:38 pm:
===The Governor’s money definitely made her competitive but it was not enough for her to win this race===
I tend to agree with that. He didn’t try to outright buy the race by vastly outspending Raja. His money and his ads got her in the hunt.
- DarkestBeforeDawn - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:40 pm:
==was the better candidate.==
whaaaaa? I’m no Harris fan but I would beg to differ…
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:48 pm:
I believe the Trump ad hit the ten ring with voters…perfectly aimed.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:51 pm:
===I believe the Trump ad hit the ten ring===
And that was her ad, not Pritzker’s.
- Techie - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:52 pm:
“His billions won her the race. Without him, she would certainly have struggled.”
Yes and no. She would have struggled without his money, but Pritzker’s point stands that money alone isn’t enough - otherwise Raja would have won. She won because her message resonated - one interesting point someone made is that she leaned into the upset that voters are feeling. Her ad with people saying “F Trump”, her frequently discussing how upset people are and how things just aren’t working, her refusal to approve Chuck Schumer as the Democratic leader in the Senate.
Raja did not express that same level of understanding of where people are and how to address it.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
===I would beg to differ===
Better as in more effective. He just was. You can hate him but he had simple messages that caught fire with voters. She didn’t and insisted on doing things like campaigning with the Cheney family, etc.
Anyway, I shouldn’t have even commented. Move along.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 2:58 pm:
What this race shows is that candidates need enough to get their message out, and beyond that, success depends on the quality of the message more than the amplification that money can provide.
- DarkestBeforeDawn - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:03 pm:
Rich, FWIW, I wasn’t arguing about how her campaign was run (a dumpster fire insulting Americans’ intelligence, IMO) but merely on her chops as a candidate. But we can move on.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:13 pm:
I saw the race as three candidates who almost certainly would vote the same way on any legislation coming before the Senate. IMO, there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference on that score.
I thought Raja played it safe and allowed Stratton to outflank him to the left. $30 minimum wage? Sure. Voting against Chuck Schumer? Check. Abolishing ICE? No brainer.
I don’t think we’ll ever see a bill on the Senate floor that abolishes ICE or raised the federal minimum wage to $30. And I’m sure Stratton had an awkward call with Schumer yesterday. And if it didn’t happen then, it will soon. But I also think Schumer knows where she stands and won’t take it personally. It’s not like she needs the help of the DSCC to beat Tracy.
Raja acted like this was a coronation and he didn’t want to rock the boat. Stratton felt the anger of the base and spoke to it. Game, set and match.
Slowly but surely, Stratton will have to stand on her own, because despite the Governor’s money and support, she is her own woman. But that can wait until she gets to DC.
- Occasionally Moderated - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:37 pm:
I feel like Rajas two tv ads got her in the hunt.
“fight djt” and “fight grocery store monopolys” just didn’t light anyones fire.
I voted for Raja. I only knew him from calm demeanor and knowledgeable banter I heard on WGN. His ads didn’t help anyone get to know him that didn’t already know him.
- H-W - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:40 pm:
@ warmest
And yet Stratton won the majority of the votes on the Democrat Ballots (i.e., she won outright).
- JS Mill - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:46 pm:
=Better as in more effective. He just was.=
This. Also true for stratton. Money obviously impacts elections, but Raja was well financed. Money alone does not win elections. Raja had some negative oppo with ICE that hurt him. Stratton is the Lt governor to one of the most popular governors we have had in Illinois since Jim Edgar for sure.
- H-W - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 3:55 pm:
@ JS Mill Re: Edgar.
Agree. My first Illinois Governor. Good man.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 6:23 pm:
Raja was playing the long game. And the long game was to raise a huge pile of money so that no other politician could compete, and the only way he could possibly be challenged was if a self-funder got into the race…in which case, he would probably atleast be running on equal footing. Except he would be the son of an immigrant running against a billionaire.
Raja wrote the rules for this race, and I am not going to cry a single tear for Raja getting beat at a game whose rules he wrote.
The “raise a lot of cash” approach is a strategy specifically designed to prevent women - especially women of color, and really especially progressive women of color - from winning primaries.
Because the list of family and friends and professional associates they have who can write $2700 checks tends to be much shorter.
I will say since we’re on the topic that I have spent almost no time following Raja’s career, I know he is somewhat partisan but mostly when I have heard people talk about him its just “Raja spends every waking minute raising money to run for Durbin’s seat” for the last ten years.
with that as his top priority I find it tough to believe he was always putting the voters first.
And I am super-curious to know how (and why) he managed to get Jim McPike to go to Jackson County to endorse him.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 6:28 pm:
I wanna add that when a multimillionaire like Blair Hull sets all their money on fire, its “easy come, easy go.”
Raja spent the last ten years of his life, every waking moment with a singular purpose to raise as much dough as possible based on a single goal.
Now ten years of his life was spent in four months and he is a lame duck Congressman.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 19, 26 @ 6:35 pm:
Back to the post:
Pritzker is right, there is no substitute for Genuine.
Illinois Democrats appreciate people who are authentic, even when that authenticity comes with a price, like Rahm’s swearing, Daley’s tantrums, Quinn’s disheveledness, or Simon’s bowtie.
Heck, some of us even liked Topinka and Mike Bost.