THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Pritzker re-elect...Suburban mayors push back on transit plan
June 30, 2025
Good morning, Illinois.
I was on the WGN-TV Political Report yesterday morning to discuss the race for Governor. (If you want to call it a race.") You can watch that here.
As many of you know, I’ve been hosting mornings on WMAY in Springfield for the past 11 months. As of tomorrow, I’ll move to 3pm-6pm but will remain my same grumpy self. You can always listen here.
Governor JB Pritzker signs legislation at 9:30 this morning.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Gov. JB Pritzker makes third-term bid official, castigates President Donald Trump and Democrats who shy away from progressive causes (Chicago Tribune)
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker formally declared his candidacy for a third term as Illinois’ chief executive on Thursday, vowing to build on a legacy of accomplishments as he criticized President Donald Trump, called Republicans a “cult” and even slammed Democrats who are shying away from progressive social causes.
Kicking off his 2026 campaign in a 25-minute speech before a couple of hundred supporters at the Grand Crossing Fieldhouse on Chicago’s South Side, Pritzker also did little to dispel speculation about a 2028 run for president. He routinely touched on national themes — including the importance of the youth vote and the need among Democrats to focus on affordability issues — and he dodged when asked if he would pledge to serve a full, four-year term if reelected governor in November 2026.
“I ran for governor in 2018 to change our story. I ran for governor in 2022 to keep telling our story. And I am running for governor in 2026 to protect our story because our story is now one of fiscal responsibility, of social accountability, of modern adaptability,” Pritzker said. “Our story values love over hate, courage over fear, kindness over cruelty. Our story doesn’t have a cult telling us what to believe, or sycophants telling us what to say, or a king telling us what to do.”
Pritzker has emerged nationally as one of the most prominent Democratic voices taking on the Republican president among sometimes listless party leadership. He has said his role as Illinois governor provides him a “bully pulpit” as he presents himself as a bulwark against Trump’s efforts to reshape America.
Though he never mentioned Trump by name in his South Side speech, Pritzker referred to the president and Republicans in Washington, D.C., as “the megalomaniac narcissist in the White House and his malignant clown car in Congress” and as “fascist freakshow fanatics” who are running “their experiments on ending democracy.”
But in a two-minute campaign launch video, Pritzker lashed out at the president more directly and by name.
“We know government ought to stand up for working families and be a force for good, not a weapon of revenge,” Pritzker says in the video. “Donald Trump’s made clear, he’ll stop at nothing to get his way. I’m not about to stand by and let him tear down all we’re building in Illinois.”
The event at the Grand Crossing Park Fieldhouse was the exact location where Pritzker set in motion his initial bid for chief executive in April 2017. As he did on Thursday, Pritzker back then attacked Trump.
“Everything we care about is under siege by Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner,” he said then, also citing the one-term Republican governor whom he would go on to defeat handily in the 2018 general election.
The South Side rally Thursday morning was part of a six-stop, two-day statewide announcement tour that included visits to Rockford, Peoria and Springfield on Thursday and Belleville and West Frankfort on Friday.
In the campaign video, Pritzker appears in the small town of Chestnut, which is the geographic center of the state, to make his case that Illinois is in the middle of the national battle over politics and government.
“These days, Illinois is standing at the center of the fight: The fight to make life more affordable, the fight to protect our freedoms, the fight for common sense,” the governor says, focusing on Trump before pivoting to what Pritzker describes as his successes since he first took office in 2019, including balanced budgets, state credit upgrades and hiking the minimum wage.
Pritzker, a 60-year-old entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, is one of the nation’s wealthiest politicians, with a net worth of $3.7 billion, according to Forbes. Trump is estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.5 billion.
In his two previous successful campaigns, Pritzker has spent $350 million of his personal wealth. He has also seeded state and local Democratic organizations with tens of millions of dollars, creating a robust political infrastructure that has resulted in Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate.
Following his speech in Chicago, Pritzker added to the presidential speculation when he wouldn’t directly answer after being asked by reporters if he would pledge to serve a full, four-year term as governor if reelected.
“I’m running for governor of Illinois. I want to be governor of Illinois. That’s four more years,” he said.
Related: ‘I have work to do,’ Pritzker says in launching third-term reelection bid (Capitol News Illinois)
JB Pritzker: From political neophyte to 43rd governor of Illinois — and potential US presidential candidate (Chicago Tribune)
'I don't shy away from a fight': Pritzker's run for atypical third term fits unprecedented times (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Gov. Pritzker says Illinois needs to address 'property tax problem' in coming years (Peoria Journal Star)
National speculation helps ‘get more for the people of Illinois,’ Pritzker says (Capitol News Illinois)
Editorial: Pritzker to run again before he makes really big run (Champaign News-Gazette)
Opinion: Pritzker's re-election bid doubles as a soft launch for 2028 (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Pritzker’s push for 3rd term makes political, electoral sense (Shaw Media)
‘Stand up for our hometowns’: Suburban mayors slam transit proposal (Daily Herald)
A coalition of 25 suburban mayors is beseeching lawmakers to think twice before approving a transit rescue plan they say is seriously flawed.
“We are asking you … to stand up for our hometowns and your constituents in northeastern Illinois,” reads a letter spearheaded by Hanover Park Mayor Rod Craig and signed by leaders across Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
The Suburban Mayors Coalition for Fair Transit criticizes new taxes proposed in a bill approved by the state Senate to avert a $771 million shortfall facing Metra, Pace and the CTA in 2026.
A $1.50 delivery fee on online orders, excluding groceries and medications, dubbed the “pizza tax” is “regressive, (and) disproportionately burdens low- to moderate-income families,” officials said.
Mayors also panned expanding a real estate transfer tax from Chicago to the suburbs, and allowing the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority to acquire or develop land near train stations for projects such as condos with retail space.
That concept would strip away power over zoning and parking from municipalities and give it to an nonelected board, they argued.
But — the delivery fee would generate $1.1 billion that would transform transit in the region and help avert a 40% cut to train and bus service next year, state Sen. Ram Villivalam said Wednesday at an Active Transportation Alliance forum.
He noted Colorado and Minnesota have delivery taxes, and their data shows the majority of orders are above $100.
“We’re always going to have folks that try to pick apart any type of funding source, whether it’s (on) the state of Illinois level, city of Chicago, Cook County, the collars and so much more,” Villivalam said.
But the regional transit system that serves more than 1 million riders daily “will come to a screeching halt” in 2026 if no one compromises, he warned.
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Editorial: Why have Illinois and Chicago not yet clamped down on unregulated intoxicating hemp? (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Tax hikes aren’t a budget strategy — they’re a warning sign (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Madigan's shadow still looms large over Legislature (Champaign News-Gazette)
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