As we wrote recently in this magazine, our governor, J.B. Pritzker, wants to be president of the United States. He founded a political action committee, Think Big America, which has supported abortion-rights ballot measures in Ohio, Nevada, and Arizona, and helped elect an abortion rights majority in the Virginia legislature. He’s given speeches in the swing state of Michigan. As host of this year’s Democratic National Convention, he’ll introduce himself to power brokers from all over the country — and make a featured speech on national TV.
At the time, there was an obvious scenario for a Pritzker presidency. Donald Trump would beat Joe Biden in November, and Pritzker would immediately start running for the 2028 nomination, possibly forgoing a third term as governor to devote himself full time to the pursuit of the presidency. But the situation has changed. Biden is out, and Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee. Harris seems to have a 50-50 chance of winning — far better than Biden. If she does win, Pritzker’s chance of ever becoming president is likely dead. The same goes for the other members of the Big Three awaiting their chance in 2028: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
If Harris wins, she’ll run again in 2028, which means there won’t be an opening for another Democratic nominee until 2032. Assuming she serves two terms, the country will be ready for a Republican president by then. We may not see another Democratic president until 2040. That year, Pritzker will be 75 years old, and a decade-and-a-half removed from his governorship. He’ll be yesterday’s mashed potatoes.
Pritzker’s best chance of reaching the nation’s highest office may be as Harris’s vice president. Fifteen of our 49 vice presidents have become president, either by succeeding their bosses or winning elections in their own right. However, reports the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet, Pritzker’s $3.5 billion fortune may be a handicap.
The vast fortune of billionaire Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker may take time to vet — which could be a factor — as Vice President Kamala Harris evaluates potential running mates under a tight deadline.
Selecting a vice president will be the first major decision for Harris, whose presidential campaign as of Monday is only 8 days old. And she does not have much time to make it. A process that in other years takes a presumptive presidential nominee months is being squeezed into days.
Pritzker is part of a strong battle-tested Democratic bench for Harris to consider: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Even without the bottleneck of vetting his fortune, Pritzker is a long shot for the vice presidency. Illinois is not a swing state, and his progressive stances on guns and abortion do not provide a counterbalance to Harris’s San Francisco liberalism. He’s been one of Trump’s most strident critics, maybe too strident for a vice president, who isn’t supposed to upstage the candidate. Here was his reaction to Trump’s scheduled appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists’ Convention and Career Fair at the Hilton Chicago on Wednesday:
“Every time Donald Trump visits the Midwest he tells us how much he hates it. He called Milwaukee horrible. He called Detroit corrupt. He denigrated Chicago police. His visit to Chicago will no doubt be another attempt to distract from his flailing campaign with as many lies as there are vacancies at Trump Tower.”
“I like the governor,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley told the Sun-Times. I think he’d be a great vice president and a great nominee.”
But Shapiro is the “pragmatic choice.”
“Who helps you win?“ Quigley said. “There’s no way a Democrat wins in November this year without Pennsylvania. And Shapiro is very popular east-to-west in a massive state.”
The last Illinois governor to win a presidential nomination was Adlai Stevenson, who lost two elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. The last to win any federal office was Richard Yates Jr., who served from 1905 to 1909, and later went on to Congress. Don’t cry for J.B. because he’s not going on to a bigger job. He’s done a lot to restore confidence in an office known for feloniousness and incompetence. For decades, Illinois governors were considered successful if they stayed out of prison. Rod Blagojevich wanted to go to the White House. From the moment he was elected in 2002, he plotted a presidential run. Instead, he was leapfrogged by a state senator, Barack Obama. Out of his mind with envy, he tried to sell Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, and ended up doing seven years in the joint. That won’t happen to Pritzker. Even if he never runs for office again, he’ll continue to be a player in Democratic politics. He’s got a big mouth and billions of dollars. We’ll still be hearing his name in 2028, 2032, and even 2040.