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 Gov. J.B. Pritzker put $152 million into his bid
for re-election against state Sen. Darren Bailey, down from $171 million for his
2018 campaign.
On top of self-financing his campaign, Pritzker donated $24 million to the
Democratic Governors Association. The association spent millions on TV ads
attacking Bailey’s primary opponent Richard Irvin, who was defeated.
The ads encouraged primary voters to pick Bailey over Irvin, who had $50 million
in support. By propping up Bailey, Pritzker indirectly chose his opponent for
the general election.
Neil Steinberg, columnist from the Chicago Sun-Times, said Pritzker’s avalanche
of cash can’t be ignored.
“Can anyone make an observation about him that isn’t somehow tainted by the
third of a billion dollars worth of hype firehosed at us over the past four
years?” Steinberg wrote.
According to Forbes, Pritzker ranks 797 in the 1,000 wealthiest people in the
world. He is an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune. Since taking office in 2019,
his net worth has risen from $3.2 billion to $3.6 billion.
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Pritzker’s blind trust of investments includes 12 different companies that
obtained more than $20 billion in state contracts since he took office.
Pritzker received about 333,000 fewer votes for governor this time than he did
in 2018. His opponents in 2018 and 2022 both received over 1.7 million votes,
but Bailey lost by about 9 percentage points while former Gov. Bruce Rauner lost
by nearly 16 percentage points.
Based on his 2018 and 2022 campaigns, Pritzker has plenty of money to
self-finance a presidential campaign.
In his election-night speech, Pritzker didn’t mention Bailey by name but
mentioned former President Donald Trump multiple times. The speech fueled more
speculation about a presidential bid, but Pritzker said he supports President
Biden and expects to serve his full term as governor.
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