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* Maybe it’s me, but I tend to assume somebody is running for reelection unless I start seeing real evidence to the contrary. In this case, Gov. Pritzker has plunked down a decent chunk of cash, which seems to be evidence that he’s running again.
Also, do you know how furious super-competitive reporters like Mary Ann Ahern would be if the governor chose to give an exclusive scoop on his reelection bid to a rival TV station more than a year before the primary? Ha! I pity the fool.
Governors generally tend to prefer their own time and place to make this announcement…
Governor JB Pritzker hinted Thursday that he may not run for a second term, breaking the news even as Illinois is poised to come out of the pandemic and make his job a bit easier starting next week.
So, the question is: Is the governor serious, or just being coy about his plans?
If Pritzker decides not to run again, it would send shockwaves across the political landscape in Illinois and open the floodgates for candidates on both sides of the aisle.
In a one-on-one interview Thursday, he left open the possibility that maybe he only wants to serve one term.
“You know, again, I haven’t talked to my family completely about this and I need to spend time with them had to have that conversation. So I’ll get back to you shortly. I promise,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker seemed to kick start his re-election bid with a whopping $35 million personal donation to his campaign coffers on March 12. The donation came right around the first anniversary of when he had to shut the state down due to the pandemic.
One political insider said First Lady MK Pritzker is not very happy with the lifestyle created by the demands of her husband’s job.
I ran into the First Lady last week at a Springfield restaurant. She told me how she’d taken the staff rollerskating at a local rink and said she wanted to host a legislative rollerskating night during next spring’s session. Does that sound like someone who isn’t “happy with the lifestyle”? Pre-pandemic, she regularly attended plays put on by women prisoners at Logan Correctional Center and actively supports the prison’s culinary program. She’s about to host a big reception for the new executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a Black woman.
Yes, her teen daughter has been maliciously and falsely targeted by a right-wing media outlet for just being a kid. And, yes, her husband received multiple and regular death threats during the pandemic. What mother and spouse wouldn’t hate that? But from all I can tell, MK is a trouper. She’s also from a political family.
Here’s Gov. Pritzker’s comms director, who almost never tweets…
If the First Lady had any concerns about her husband running again, let’s remember the death threats and vitriol leveled at their family. https://t.co/Ww5OP5UjqV
— Emily Bittner (@emily_bittner) June 4, 2021
Saying she doesn’t like the “lifestyle” based on an unnamed “insider” is a gross, sexist trope that needs to end. Let’s stop treating political wives like they’re vapid and vacuous nags. Shame on anyone who falls for such tired tricks.
— Emily Bittner (@emily_bittner) June 4, 2021
Whew.
* From the CBS 2 narrative…
But, you know, campaign season is right around the corner and I’m sure the Democratic Party would like to know definitively what his plans are sooner rather than later.
Again, the primary is almost 13 months away. And, like the party could do anything about it anyway.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 10:44 am
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If only we could have been so lucky though. Oh well.
Comment by ;) Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 10:49 am
“Saying she doesn’t like the “lifestyle” based on an unnamed “insider” is a gross, sexist trope that needs to end. Let’s stop treating political wives like they’re vapid and vacuous nags”
Yep - I never seem to see stories about this focusing male spouses to women politicians hating the “lifestyle.”
Comment by NIU Grad Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 10:49 am
I take JB at his word. He ran as a progressive. He has achieved a lot of what he set out to do. He probably will run again but he might not. It doesn’t matter anyway because who ever the Democrats run will win. Illinois isn’t a swing state anymore. It doesn’t matter how much money the GOP attempts to cobble together. If JB runs again , he doesn’t even have to spend that much money.
Comment by Northside Neighbor Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 10:55 am
==But, you know, campaign season is right around the corner==
It would seem the reporter needs to read the bill that moved petition circulation from Sept-Nov to Jan-March.
== I’m sure the Democratic Party would like to know definitively what his plans are sooner rather than later.==
Who says they don’t already know? (or, at least, have a very good idea) Telling a reporter is not the same as talking to the top Dems.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:01 am
I think Emily went just a skosh too far there at the end but her overall point is a good one.
Comment by A State Employee Guy Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:04 am
=It doesn’t matter anyway because whoever the Democrats run will win=
I’d have to agree to disagree. Illinois may not be a swing state anymore but states just as Blue such as Maryland and Massachusetts currently have moderate GOP governors in their second terms (with Baker in Massachusetts seemingly poised to win term number three). A Charlie Baker/Larry Hogan/Jim Edgar-type could absolutely win statewide by combining the downstate base with wealthy/upper middle-class Collar County voters who are culturally alienated from the national GOP but don’t like Springfield and don’t want to pay higher taxes. Just look at the Fair Tax map for what a map of a possible GOP gubernatorial win would look like. I’ve longed maintained that Adam Kinzinger was built in a lab accomplish exactly this.
The main problem for the GOP seems to be that their base-and increasingly their politicians- prefer to wage a psychotic scorched earth culture war and pretend the state’s political conditions are more like Iowa and Indiana’s than Massachusetts and Maryland. Pritzker’s likely gonna run again and he’s probably got enough accomplishments to barrel through some of the punches he’s taken, but the odds are very different running against a Kinzinger than they would be against a Bailey.
Comment by Edyrdologist Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:12 am
Never hurts to let the reelect topic bounce around a little…makes the GOPies drag out their “best and brightest” to spew their nonsense.
The tongue waggers have talked about JB and the Mayor skipping out. Expect to see both names on the ballot next time
Comment by Annonin' Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:15 am
Pritzker could very well be in the fight for his political life. COVID-19 shutdowns, unbalanced budget, rising pension debt, the so called “Fair Tax” that’d hurt middle class families, 36 deaths at the LaSalle Veterans Home, lie to voters about supporting independent redistricting, so called criminal justice reform that would increase crime, corruption with lawmakers, Madigan going to prison, tax fraud involving toilets..This governor will not last. Run Rodney, Run. He’s the best hope to take down Pritzker and fix Illinois.
Comment by Fed Up Illinoisan Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:26 am
=== A Charlie Baker/Larry Hogan/Jim Edgar-type could absolutely win statewide===
Not an Illinois GOP primary, they couldn’t
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:36 am
JB doesn’t have to speak with the Dem Party; he owns the Dem Party, and can entirely self-fund if need be. Who would the Dems field against him as a Party candidate that could claim any of the positives JB has gained? And since the GOP is currently on another gubernatorial Kamikaze mission for 2022, why should JB saying anything at this point?
Comment by thisjustinagain Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:37 am
=Illinois isn’t a swing state anymore.=
We’re 2.5 years removed from a Republican governor. I would agree the current climate isn’t conducive to Republicans particularly those on the far right. But to the extent the party corrects it’s mistakes the voters will be there.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:39 am
Can’t tell you how many times I’ve transferred $35 million to my campaign fund when I wasn’t sure if I’d run again. Will we get a listening tour first?
Comment by natty lite Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:50 am
First Lady MK Pritzker is a treasure. Period.
===Illinois isn’t a swing state anymore.===
Laurels come after you win, not before. We just watched an incredibly well funded constitutional ballot measure fail because of a less well funded misinformation campaign that used a modest amount of direct mail.
Illinois might be a blue state, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take effective campaigns to make it that way or to keep it that way. There are a lot of voters in this state who are just mad and don’t have a whole lot of concern for solution shopping and will buy all kinds of nonsense if it gives them an excuse to be mad.
We’ve been under funding pensions longer than everyone participating on this blog has been alive and a few decades ago our government literally created a plan to avoid funding pensions so we have spent decades not paying for the full cost of our government which means decades not paying adequate revenue to fund our government and instead of understanding that a lot of voters just like to be mad about it.
Illinois is a place where there are hundreds of thousands of people who will keep voting to step on the rake and blame the rake for getting hit in the face. It takes a lot of effort to convince those people to step somewhere else and a lot less effort to convince them that they should be mad at the rake.
“Keep it simple stupid” is easy to do with the idea is dumb and doesn’t work.
Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:01 pm
Fed Up Illinoisan, if the party was going to nominate a serious adult vs a meme master I would say that would be a logical approach.
Comment by OneMan Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:20 pm