SPRINGFIELD — Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday told the state’s largest annual gathering of Illinois Democrats that “Republicans demagogue, Democrats deliver” as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin warned that the latest indictment against former President Donald Trump should not be viewed as “just another political wrinkle.”
Trump has created a “party of fear and hate,” and a Republican Party that is “dividing America, dividing our states, dividing our counties and our school boards,” Durbin told the party faithful.
The state’s top Democrats gathered in Springfield for Governor’s Day — although the day’s events packed a little less punch in a nonelection year.
Illinois is seen nationally as a blue haven in a sea of red Midwestern states, as state legislators have enacted progressive policies with the help of Democratic supermajorities and Pritzker’s pen. The Democratic governor vowed that Illinois will remain a firewall against red states — “a fortress for all around reproductive rights.”
“Together, we built a blue wave — a tsunami that has swept away the red wall of Uihleins and Griffins and Rauners and Trumps,” Pritzker said to cheers at the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association Brunch.
Pritzker ousted Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018 and went on to resoundingly defeat GOP state senator and downstate farmer Darren Bailey last year.
GOP megadonor Dick Uihlein was a Bailey supporter; Trump endorsed Bailey; and hedge-fund billionaire and Republican megadonor Ken Griffin moved to Florida last year — lamenting Chicago crime after the loss of his chosen GOP candidate, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin.
The country’s wealthiest politician, Pritzker spent $167 million to defeat Bailey last year, and $171 million to beat Rauner in 2018.
Since last year’s Governor’s Day, the billionaire Democrat has boosted his national profile with the White House, in national Democratic circles and in the media — securing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next July and notching major legislative wins, including expansion and protection of abortion rights and the ban of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
On Wednesday, the second-term governor railed against Republicans for supporting the Jan. 6 insurrection, defending Trump’s latest indictment and lecturing about personal responsibility while GOP legislators vote no on state budgets.
“Republicans think that if they lie about something often enough, if they deny the truth long enough, maybe we will start to believe their lies,” Pritzker said. “The problem is that here in Illinois, we have a low tolerance for b-------.”
Durbin called Trump’s fourth criminal indictment “the most serious charges ever made against a public official in America.”
“The notion that he would reverse the results of the Democratic election and the choice of president for the United States gets to the heart of who we are as a nation,” Durbin said. “These are serious charges and should not be taken as just another political wrinkle.
“We should leave it to the courts and leave it in their hands to come to the right conclusion. But I will say to anyone of either political party who tries to influence those courts, not in America. Not in America.”
After the brunch, Democrats held a very short rally on the Director’s Lawn at the Illinois State Fair. Afterward, Pritzker told reporters he’s confident the fight for reproductive rights will continue to bring Democrats to the ballot box — and the momentum will not lose steam ahead of next year’s elections.
“Democrats are motivated, and they are all across the nation, not just in Illinois. But I’ll tell you we can already see — and you see this in Ohio, you saw it in Kansas — that one of the issues that’s animating Democrats is preserving reproductive rights for women, and women’s rights are under attack,” Pritzker said.
“It’s not just reproductive rights. You’re seeing the Supreme Court contemplate going after other rights — birth control, for example, which affects everybody.
“And so these are things that are gonna be on the ballot. People understand that when they vote in November, they’re voting for or against women’s rights. They’re voting for or against reproductive rights. They’re voting for or against civil rights and human rights,” Pritzker said.
Of his own political ambitions, Pritzker was asked if he’d challenge President Joe Biden in a primary, “in a pinch.”
“I’m for Joe Biden. I’m fighting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Pritzker said. “They’re gonna win in November of 2024.”
