Gov. JB Pritzker sought to guarantee Illinois residents Thursday that he would battle to protect the state’s protections on fronts corresponding to reproductive well being, immigration and LGBTQ+ rights throughout Donald Trump’s second time period within the White House.
“To anybody who intends to remove the liberty, alternative and dignity of the individuals of Illinois, I wish to remind you {that a} joyful warrior remains to be a warrior. Come for my individuals, come by means of me,” Pritzker stated Thursday at a information convention in Chicago, the place he made his first public look because the election.
Pritzker declined to invest on what went flawed for Democrats this yr, when Trump did significantly better in blue states, together with Illinois, the place he minimize his shedding margin roughly in half from the earlier two elections . The governor stated an extended marketing campaign may have benefited Vice President Kamala Harris, who didn’t enter the race till President Joe Biden dropped out on July 21.
“Look, 107 days, I believe that is the variety of days that Kamala Harris needed to run that marketing campaign, and so it is a very quick time period. He did an incredible job making it as aggressive as potential,” Pritzker stated. “But extra time would have been higher.”
Questions about what Democrats may have achieved in a different way and why the election went badly for Harris will likely be examined within the coming months, Pritzker stated.
“And I believe it will be untimely for all of us to attract any conclusions as we speak. You have to take a look at the info,” he stated.
The governor is broadly seen as a potential future contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, a seat that’s now large open for 2028. He has not stated whether or not he’ll run for a 3rd time period in 2026, and he declined to reply questions on it on Thursday.
He famous that Trump was president throughout his first two years as governor and stated he spent a whole lot of time working “to defend Illinois from a whole lot of insurance policies that the Trump administration was imposing.”
“So I believe the work will proceed,” Pritzker stated. “And I’ve nothing to announce as we speak.”
Another potential Democratic 2028 presidential contender, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, stated Thursday he would name a particular December session of that state’s legislature to withstand Trump’s insurance policies. In Illinois, lawmakers are anticipated to return to Springfield subsequent week for his or her annual fall veto session, which may now embrace addressing issues about Trump’s subsequent time period.
Pritzker has lengthy had a tough relationship with Trump, blasting him from the stage at this summer time’s Democratic National Convention as “wealthy in a single factor: stupidity.”
But the billionaire governor, who was handed over after being thought-about a Democratic candidate to hitch Harris, stated he accepted Trump’s victory and was prepared to work with the brand new president.
“Donald Trump will likely be our subsequent president. He received the elections and we should all be prepared to work collectively for the frequent good. In the months forward, we should always all deal with the peaceable transition of energy, even when Donald Trump didn’t enable this to his successor,” Pritzker, referring to Trump’s refusal to confess that he misplaced the 2020 election to Biden and to foment an assault on the US Capitol.
Hundreds of individuals gathered in Chicago to oppose Donald Trump and categorical disappointment with Democrats within the aftermath of the election
Early in his first marketing campaign for governor in 2018, Pritzker promised to make Illinois “a firewall towards Donald Trump’s harmful and bigoted agenda.”
Pritzker has continued his criticism, lambasting the Trump administration’s dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic from the lectern throughout his each day press conferences and calling him personally on a convention name with different governors through the unrest following George Floyd’s killing by by a Minneapolis police officer.
Attacks on Trump have solely intensified through the 2024 marketing campaign, with Pritzker making frequent references to the previous president’s prison conviction and different authorized points.
Pritzker, a surrogate for Harris’ presidential marketing campaign, has repeatedly used phrases and phrases corresponding to “racist,” “misogynist,” “homophobe,” “congenital liar,” “convicted rapist” and “convicted felon” to explain the Republican candidate, a lot to the delight of many in his social gathering’s liberal base.
Trump seems to have seen this, telling tech mogul Elon Musk on a livestream this summer time: “Illinois would not work nicely with Pritzker. He’s an actual loser.”
Pritzker additionally took his battle for abortion rights to the nationwide stage, creating and funding the darkish cash group Think Big America. The group, which isn’t required to reveal its donors however is broadly supported by Pritzker, has been concerned in abortion rights poll measures in eight states.
Seven of these measures received voter approval. But a Florida measure failed to achieve the 60% help wanted to move, whereas Nebraska voters rejected protections in favor of banning abortion beginning on the twelfth week of being pregnant.
“We know the battle for reproductive freedom is simply starting, and we won’t cease till entry to abortion is assured to each lady, no matter zip code,” Think Big spokeswoman Christina Amestoy stated in an announcement Wednesday .
Although Pritzker signed a measure in 2019 enshrining the precise to abortion into Illinois state regulation, there are not any protections within the state structure and supporters determined to not search an modification this yr.
The governor recalled Thursday, as he typically does, his political origin story of stuffing political envelopes along with his mom, “when it will need to have appeared just like the tempo of change was extremely sluggish.”
“I do know there are a whole lot of ladies on the market this week, particularly younger ladies, questioning if they are going to ever see a feminine president,” Pritzker stated, with Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton standing behind him. “And I wish to inform them that I too am uninterested in having to elucidate to my daughter and likewise to my son that eventually the time will come, however not now. Yet right here we’re once more.
Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.
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