Pritzker Puts His Clout on the Line

BY JOHN MCCORMICK

CHICAGO—Gov. JB Pritzker is expected to cruise to an easy victory in the March 17 Democratic primary in Illinois as he seeks a third term. The party’s U.S. Senate primary might give him heartburn.

The billionaire and potential 2028 presidential candidate is backing his lieutenant governor to succeed Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is set to retire, and she is struggling to outshine two main rivals. The winner of the primary in the deeply blue state is likely to be its next senator.

The election is a test of Pritzker’s clout in a state where he has leveraged his wealth to dominate the Democratic Party—donating tens of millions of dollars to candidates and committees—in a way that has some similarities to the control President Trump exerts on the Republican Party nationally. A loss for Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton would be a potential embarrassment for him as he works to raise his national profile.

Pete Giangreco, an Illinoisbased Democratic strategist, said Stratton’s candidacy carries “very high stakes” for Pritzker. He added that her campaign is heavily based on the governor’s record.

“If she gets beaten handily, that does not bode well for JB running on the JB record in 2028,” said Giangreco, who worked on both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.

The governor elevated Stratton, who was then a state representative just seven months into her first term, to be his running mate in 2017, when he faced a crowded Democratic primary in his first bid for governor. Her selection was meant to give him a boost with women and Black voters.

Alex Gough, a spokesman for Pritzker’s own 2026 re-election campaign, challenged the notion that a Stratton loss could be a potential embarrassment for the most powerful Democrat in Illinois. “Gov. Pritzker is proud to have endorsed Juliana Stratton be--cause he believes she’s the best person to represent the people of Illinois in the United States Senate,” he said.

Public polling has been minimal, but one recent survey highlighted by an association backing Stratton showed Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.) as the early leader. He has dominated fundraising and saturated the state’s television screens with ads that tell people to “just call me Raja” in a nod to the length of his last name.

Rep. Robin Kelly (D., Ill.), a Black woman like Stratton, is also competing along with a group of lesser-known candidates. The primary will be among the first held in the 2026 midterm election cycle and represents the first time in three decades Durbin won’t be on the ballot for that Senate seat.

Pritzker has clashed with Kelly, who in 2021 defeated the candidate the governor supported to become chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. A year later, Pritzker pushed Kelly out and installed his chosen candidate.

Few policy differences exist between the leading candidates, and the primary is more an exhibition of political rivalries within the Democratic Party of Illinois.

Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, and his family members have so far only given $63,000 directly to Stratton’s campaign, federal records show. A political-action committee backing Stratton and led by a longtime Pritzker operative said it has already raised at least $1 million. A spokeswoman for the PAC, which doesn’t have to report its donors until late January, declined to comment.

The governor has a long record of significant political contributions. With an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion, he spent more than $300 million to self-fund two gubernatorial campaigns.

Stratton quickly won the endorsement of the state’s junior senator, Tammy Duckworth, as well as Laura Ricketts, a Chicago Cubs co-owner. Emily’s List, an organization dedicated to supporting candidates who support abortion rights, is also backing her.

Kelly has the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee and Brady PAC, a group devoted to gun restrictions. In an interview, Kelly said she has “moved on” from her spat with Pritzker. She said there is nothing the governor could offer her to get her out of the primary, an exit that theoretically would help Stratton by narrowing the race.

“He should offer it to his lieutenant governor, not me,” she said. “I’m in this to win it.”

Kelly argues that she is the most qualified person in the race, in part, because she has one of the most geographically large Democratic-held congressional districts in the state, one that includes urban, suburban and rural areas.

Stratton declined in an interview to offer specifics about what kind of financial or campaign- trail support she expects from Pritzker, or whether she feels any added pressure to succeed when the governor is working to boost his national brand.

“We have worked as true partners in governance,” she said. “His support in this race is not about politics. It’s really about him knowing my record and what I want to do in Washington.”