Pritzker spends over $12 million on national politics
The governor has financially supported political committees in Illinois and across the nation.
J.B. Pritzker’s bid for a third term as Illinois governor isn’t the only race he’s funding.
Not only did Pritzker give $25.5 million to his own primary election campaign, he spent an additional $13.9 million on primary election politics in Illinois and 20 other states.
In his first race for governor, Pritzker broke the record for self-financed campaigns. After he won a second term, he advocated campaign finance reform.
Leading up to the March 17 state and local primaries in Illinois, 20 committees received over $1.5 million from Pritzker.
While over $1 million went to the Democratic Party of Illinois, 12 times that amount went to national PACs and campaigns in 20 other states.
Illinois Future PAC received three contributions from Pritzker totaling $10 million. The money successfully boosted Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ open U.S. Senate seat.
Stratton got an additional $32,000 via Juliana for Illinois and Level Up PAC. She is running against Republican Don Tracy in the Nov. 3 election.
Pritzker’s political spending expanded beyond Illinois. National PACs and committee PACs in 20 states received their share of $12.3 million from him.
ActBlue, a PAC campaigns and organizations use to fundraise and organize, received 11 contributions from Pritzker.
His political spending shows Illinoisans where his priorities are and goes against his own call for campaign finance reform.
As the governor eyes a political future beyond Illinois, Illinoisans will be left carrying the burden of his decisions allowing high spending and high taxes.
Not only are those decisions the opposite of what taxpayers want, they are pushing families and businesses to other states.
While Pritzker signed a record-high budget with over $800 million in new taxes on business, more than half of Illinois voters cited high taxes as a top issue.
The financial stress that state leaders are not addressing has more residents considering an out-of-state move. From July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, more than 40,000 residents left Illinois for other states. In a recent poll, just over 51% of Illinoisans said they would leave the state if they had the opportunity.
Pritzker should be more concerned about what is happening in Illinois, not 20 other states and Washington, D.C.