Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Announces Reelection Bid Touting Failing Coronavirus Response

Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, speaks to the media outside of the West Wing of the Whit
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Madeleine Hubbard

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) announced on Twitter Monday afternoon he is seeking reelection in 2024. His first campaign advertisement focuses on his coronavirus response, even though the state’s death toll and case rate rank as some of the worst in the nation.

The video begins with a flashback to March 2020, when Pritzker said, “This is not a time for politics. We have too much to do to save people’s lives. I want to be 100% clear what will drive my decision-making in the weeks ahead — science.”

Watch:

According to CDC data, Illinois ranks fifth in total number of Chinese coronavirus cases with 1.4 million and twenty-first in cases per capita with 11,048 cases per 100,000. The Land of Lincoln also ranks seventh in deaths with 25,820 total from coronavirus and sixteenth in death rate per capita with 203 deaths per 100,000.

In his campaign video Pritzker admits, “Look, I may not have gotten every decision right, but at every step along the way, I followed the science.”

Days before President Joe Biden was sworn in, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) spoke with J.B. Pritzker about reopening bars and restaurants. Illinois did not fully reopen until June 2021. Even then, the Democrat governor still encouraged vaccinated people to continue to mask up.

Continuing to follow the “science,” J.B. Pritzker is set to sign a radical sex-ed bill celebrated by abortion rights and LGBT activists. He also is expected to sign a bill decriminalizing the transmission of HIV.

The campaign advertisement also featured Emily and Harry Paul, small business owners from Staunton, Illinois. Emily said, “J.B. totally understood the plight of small businesses. I really don’t think we would have made it without the support of the governor. In fact, I know we wouldn’t have.”

Illinois Policy Institute reported at the end of March that 35 percent of Illinois small businesses closed one year into lockdown, exceeding any other midwestern state except for Michigan.

Data from the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy shows Illinois lost approximately 400,000 jobs from February 2020 to June 2021, only surpassed by New York and California.

Pritzker’s video ends with him saying, “I’m very proud of all of the people of the state of Illinois, and we have so much more we can do together.”

Last month, Pritzker, who has a net worth of $3.5 billion, signed a $43.2 billion budget bill. The budget was passed by the Democrat super-majority state legislature minutes after presentation in the dead of night.

Pritzker is also well known for encouraging leftist criminal justice reform. In February, he signed a bill making Illinois the first state to eliminate cash bail.

Pritzker also has taken radical steps to reform the prison system. Breitbart News reported last month:

For two years, Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker has bypassed the appointee process for the Illinois Prisoner Review Board (PRB) to fill it with his hand-picked appointees.

One of the newest board members is a man convicted of a double homicide. During this timeframe, Pritzker’s PRB has released several prisoners–many of whom are now fugitives after violating the terms of their release. Republicans in the state legislature are demanding answers and accountability.

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