Democratic President Joe Biden’s historic decision to end his reelection campaign puts Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s political future on a possible track toward the presidential ticket in November.
Biden announced in a statement Sunday afternoon that he would “stand down” from seeking re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.
Pritzker has been a top surrogate and an attack dog for Biden, sticking by Biden despite his disastrous debate performance against Republican Donald Trump when the incumbent president’s age and mental acuity became irrevocable campaign issues against him.
Pritzker ranked among a handful of leading contenders to replace Biden at the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket or possibly, in light of Biden’s endorsement of Harris, as a running mate to the new nominee.
On Sunday, Pritzker released a statement honoring Biden and warning of the continued threat of Republican nominee Donald Trump. He did not mention Harris by name.
“As we extend our gratitude to President Biden and reflect on his many accomplishments, we must not ignore the threat posed by Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House,” Pritzker wrote.
Other prominent Illinois Democrats on Sunday threw their support behind Harris, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“It is vital for our entire party to come together and support Vice President Kamala Harris,” Johnson wrote. “I am proud to give her my full endorsement.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas, a delegate for Biden, praised him for what he accomplished and said he’d now like to see the party coalesce behind Vice President Kamala Harris as president and Pritzker as her vice president to solidify Biden’s legacy.
And he cited it as the clearest path to elect a presidential ticket with a candidate from the Midwest.
“I’d hate to lose him as a governor,” Villegas said of Pritzker.
Illinois’ 59-year-old billionaire governor, now mid-way into his second term, has never outright said he’s aiming to follow in Barack Obama’s footsteps and have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue become his official residence.
But he has done nothing to quash that narrative, either, amid signs he may envision a more impactful political role for himself than being Springfield’s most powerful Democrat.
As far back as 2022, Pritzker began putting himself on the national political map, headlining Democratic Party functions in Florida and New Hampshire. This month, Pritzker was in Indiana and Ohio. Out-of-state political forays like that often represent a first step aspiring national candidates make to introduce themselves to party stalwarts they’ll need later.
Nonetheless, at the time, Pritzker professed a presidential bid was not on his mind.
“I have no interest in challenging Joe Biden in 2024,” Pritzker said. “I will support him if he runs for re-election. I’m a Democrat, believe that we need to elect a Democrat. And I think Joe Biden has already said that he’s running for re-election.”
But as Biden’s fortunes have continued to tank, Pritzker’s public endorsements of the president have grown increasingly tepid, filled with qualifying language.
“I’m supporting the nominee of the Democratic Party. That, right now, is our president, Joe Biden,” Pritzker told reporters in downstate Decatur in July.
“I went to Ohio and Indiana last weekend to campaign for President Biden, Vice President Harris. And I’m going to continue to do that. He’s apparently going to be our nominee. He’s chosen to be our nominee,” the governor continued. “So we’ve got to win because the alternative is unacceptable for the country.”
Recently, Pritzker’s name got thrown into the mix of possible Biden successors by Hollywood icon and top Democratic fundraiser George Clooney. In a New York Times op-ed imploring Biden to step aside, Clooney listed Pritzker among a half-dozen potential Democratic standard bearers this fall.
“We can easily foresee a group of several strong Democrats stepping forward to stand and tell us why they’re best qualified to lead this country and take on some of the deeply concerning trends we’re seeing from the revenge tour that Donald Trump calls a presidential campaign,” Clooney wrote.
“Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others,” Clooney said, citing Biden’s running mate and Democratic governors from Maryland, Michigan, California, Kentucky and Illinois.
If the party eschewed Biden’s endorsement of Harris or anointed Pritzker as the vice presidential nominee, Pritzker could offer certain advantages. Democrats would have a potential nominee with a proven track record in Illinois that closely aligns with the national party’s priorities.
The governor has strengthened abortion rights laws in Illinois. He banned assault weapons after the mass shooting in Highland Park. He’s championed green-energy initiatives, and he’s stabilized Illinois’ finances, leading to nine credit upgrades from bond-rating agencies.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, one of four members of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation to call on Biden to step aside, says the party’s bench is broad and includes several qualified potential successors to Biden, including Pritzker.
“I think he’d be great. Look at what he’s done for the state, how he’s helped get the state back on its feet, balanced our budget and strengthened our economy,” Schneider told WBEZ.
Pritzker also has been a blazing critic of Trump and was among the first to make Trump’s felony convictions in New York disqualifying. In June, Pritzker called Trump “a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, and a congenital liar. He’s a racist, sexist, misogynistic narcissist who wants to use the levers of power to enrich himself and punish anyone who dares speak a word against him.”
Pritzker, as he did in his two campaigns for governor, could pour enormous resources from his family fortune into a federal race, another potential strength. Forbes estimates the governor’s wealth at $3.5 billion, placing him among the top 1,000 wealthiest people in the world.
But several potentially decisive factors work against Pritzker as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, starting with some of Harris’ built-in advantages.
As vice president, she would be the highest-ranking Democrat in the field with Biden stepping aside.
Her status as a woman of color could appeal to core party constituencies and enable her to zero in on Trump for his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who vastly curtailed abortion rights. Plus, as a former prosecutor, Harris could attack Trump’s status as a convicted lawbreaker.
Moreover, Pritzker presides over a safely Democratic state rather than a battleground state that Democrats must deliver to retain control of the White House. That reality means Pritzker would not easily expand the party’s reach into those crucial states.
And finally, Pritzker lags behind other potential Biden successors in popularity despite his efforts to build name recognition outside Illinois.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 892 registered voters in early July, Illinois’ governor is the sixth most favored Democrat to succeed Biden. He fell behind former First Lady Michelle Obama, Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchan Whitmer and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
In a head-to-head matchup with Trump, the poll showed the former Republican president beating Pritzker 40-34%, outside the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The poll also ranked Pritzker last among possible Biden successors with only 11% favorability.
Seventy-five percent of poll respondents had no idea who Pritzker was.
Dave McKinney covers Illinois politics and government for WBEZ and is the former long-time Chicago Sun-Times Springfield bureau chief.
