In primetime DNC speech, Pritzker leans into role of benevolent billionaire

[August 21, 2024]  By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
[e-mail]

CHICAGO – Cheered on by an Illinois delegation watching from the floor of the United Center, Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday night embraced an identity that’s generally proven alienating in both Democratic and Republican politics: being extremely wealthy.

“Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich,” the second-term governor said during a primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention. “But take it from an actual billionaire – Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.”

Pritzker, who is worth an estimated $3.4 billion thanks in large part to inherited family wealth from Hyatt Hotels, is the wealthiest current elected official in the U.S. And in the more than seven years since he declared his candidacy for governor, Pritzker has not shied away from pouring cash into not only his own election bids but campaigns up and down the ballot.

The governor’s billionaire quip came just minutes after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, declared on the same stage that Democrats should prioritize getting “big money out of our political process.”

“Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections – including primary elections,” Sanders said.

But earlier in the day, Pritzker justified his spending in order to match – and defeat –Republicans.

“People like to criticize me for spending money to win reelection or election, but I had three billionaires put...hundreds of millions of dollars against me,” he said in an interview with POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin at the outlet’s pop-up restaurant within the convention perimeter in collaboration with CNN.

Pritzker was referring to conservative megadonors Richard Uihlein, who supported the unsuccessful campaign of far-right former state Sen. Darren Bailey against Pritzker in 2022, and Ken Griffin, who’d infused millions into that year’s gubernatorial primary for the candidate who ultimately placed third in the contest.

Pritzker also named former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner – technically only a multi-millionaire – who Pritzker spent nearly $172 million to defeat in 2018, a figure he nearly matched for his re-election campaign four years later.

Pritzker’s ability to self-fund his initial race for governor was attractive to some in the Democratic Party of Illinois, whose own record of steady fundraising had suddenly been dwarfed by Rauner. He launched his 2014 bid for governor and quickly broke the self-fundraising “caps” in order to accept unlimited funds from donors.

But when Pritzker began testing the waters of a possible challenge to Rauner in late 2016, many progressive Democrats were skeptical of his interest because of his wealth. According to reporting at the time, those Democrats feared running a billionaire would undermine the party’s messaging against Rauner as an “out-of-touch rich guy.”

Pritzker painted a self-deprecating portrait of his candidacy on Monday to a hotel conference room of Illinois delegates and Democratic supporters at the party’s breakfast.

“You all remember that back in 2018, our party was not exactly begging for me to run for governor,” he said. “No one was crying out for a white, Ukrainian-American, Jewish billionaire.”

But, he said, he was a lifelong Democrat because of the opportunities given to his immigrant ancestors when they came to Chicago as refugees.

He echoed those sentiments in his DNC speech Tuesday night, trying to balance his prioritization of social issues with economic ones and making the case that they are inextricably linked.

Rep. Margaret Croke (front) and Jordan Abudayyeh watch Gov. JB Pritzker address the Democratic National Convention from the Illinois delegation. Abudayyeh is Pritzker’s deputy chief of staff for communications and is pictured holding a cutout of his face. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

“I meet with business leaders all the time, and there's one universal thing they all need: people. They need more workers to fill all the jobs they have,” he said. “But the anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away.”

He highlighted Illinois’ status as an abortion destination as surrounding states have severely restricted the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. But he also said those states will see residents voting with their feet to flee red states – a reversal of well-worn Republican attacks on Illinois for outmigration.

"Americans don't want to be forced to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby because a draconian abortion law shut down the maternity ward,” he said. “Americans want the hope of giving birth through IVF, not the fear that it might be taken away. Americans with LGBTQ kids don't want them facing discrimination at school because the state sanctioned it.”

Pritzker has also invested serious money in efforts to enshrine abortion rights in other states’ constitutions, last year founding a “dark money” organization dubbed “Think Big America” that’s already involved in referendum campaigns in a handful of states.

And the fact that the governor was delivering his speech onstage in his hometown is the result of Pritzker’s efforts to woo DNC organizers to Chicago instead of a venue in a swing state. After the convention was secured, Pritzker spent more than a year preparing for his host role – an effort that prompted spending millions more.

But he’s leaned into the job with gusto, appearing in an episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in a pre-taped segment that aired Monday night and contracting with a pair of local breweries to produce limited edition cans of “JBeer” for the DNC.

And after the convention hall cleared out on Tuesday night, Pritzker hosted a massive invite-only party featuring John Legend – a move reminiscent of his large-scale inauguration parties in 2019 and 2023 that also saw A-list musical guests playing for hundreds.

While Pritzker has not been afraid to use his wealth to grow both his own influence in Democratic politics and the party itself, the governor’s speech echoed themes of his biggest failed campaign: the 2020 effort to enshrine a graduated income tax into Illinois’ constitution.

Pritzker on Tuesday insisted Democrats want to "cut taxes on everyday people,” a promise similar to what he said when he kicked off the effort for a graduated income tax in 2019 and repeated often during the nearly two-year campaign: “People like me should pay more and people like you should pay less.”

The so-called “Fair Tax” was Pritzker’s signature campaign promise two years earlier, but despite spending millions on the campaign, voters rejected the ballot measure.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.