CHICAGO (CBS) – In his speech on Tuesday evening at the Democratic National ConventionIllinois Gov. JB Pritzker described the 2024 general election as a stark contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Pritzker began his speech by highlighting Illinois’ rich history, which has been the starting point for many future presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, who was also scheduled to speak Tuesday night. He even touched on moments from Harris’s youth, spent in Illinois.
“Illinois’ presidential pedigree is now unmatched, and given that Vice President Kamala Harris spent part of her youth here, I speak for the entire Illinois delegation when I say we claim her as well,” Pritzker said.
The governor devoted much of his speech to criticizing Trump, calling him a “con man.” Pritzker even referenced his own fortune, estimated at about $3.5 billion, to criticize Trump’s economic policies.
“Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich, but take an example from a real billionaire: Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity,” Pritzker said, prompting a furious response.
The governor even took the opportunity to defend the city of Chicago, which Trump has criticized many times during his presidency. Pritzker has been a frequent and virulent critic of Trump during his tenure as governor, often calling him racist and sexist, and pointing out that Trump is a convicted felon.
“Donald Trump once called Chicago an embarrassment. To quote a great Chicagoan who won six world championships on these very courts, we take that ‘personally,'” he said, referring to basketball legend Michael Jordan.
The speech comes shortly after Pritzker’s name was floated as a possible alternative to President Biden at the top of the ticket, amid calls for the 81-year-old to withdraw from the race. Once Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris as the party’s nominee, Pritzker’s name was once again mentioned as a leading candidate to be his vice-presidential choice.
Although he ultimately wasn’t chosen to appear on the ballot, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot framed Tuesday night’s speech as an opportunity for Pritzker to maintain his relevance as a a possible national political figure in the future.
“He was clearly in the running for vice president,” Lightfoot told CBS News Chicago. “His calculus has changed since the party is moving in a different direction this year. He has to stay relevant. You see him being, and he has been, a surrogate for the Biden-Harris ticket for over a year. He’s on every major national program. He’s going to state parties, so his political future is on the line.”
Pritzker was also careful to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s economic policies, which support working- and middle-class families. He also took aim at conservative criticism of Democratic policies that emphasize racial equity and other progressive social positions.
“Let’s be clear, it’s not wokeness that limits economic growth, it’s weird, and these guys are not only weird, they’re dangerous,” he said.
The governor argued that the country needed a president who would bring “serenity,” something he said Trump would not provide.
“America has a choice between the man who left his country in total disarray and the woman who spent four years cleaning it up,” Pritzker said. “And I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up the mess without the authority and the title to do so.”
