Pritzker Seeks Third Term Leaning on His Record, Offering Few New State Proposals

Gov. JB Pritzker is asking Illinois voters for a rare third term, but his campaign has offered few new state-level plans for the issues dominating this year's races, according to the Chicago Tribune. Early voting opened in all 50 Chicago wards 15 days before the Nov. 3 election, and the Democrat used the occasion to stress an optimistic message.

Speaking to faith leaders at Evening Star Missionary Baptist Church in the Oakland neighborhood on the South Side, Pritzker said people have fallen into the habit of fretting about what could go wrong. "I'm running for reelection because I believe that things can go right," he said. He added that a full-time worker should earn enough to buy food, see a doctor, live in a dignified home, save for retirement and take an occasional vacation.

In an interview afterward, Pritzker described a clear federal agenda for Democrats if they win Congress: raising the $7.25 federal minimum wage, creating universal paid leave and delivering universal health care. On what he would do as the first Democrat elected to three terms as governor, he was less specific. He said many long-term affordability challenges are already being addressed and that some efforts take years to take effect.

Tabitha Bonilla, a Northwestern University political scientist, said incumbents with strong records who fit the broader political mood are often less inclined to propose bold new policies. She said relying on his record is a safe track for Pritzker. Much of what he has described is unfinished business, including efforts to attract a nuclear company after he repealed a decades-old moratorium, an affordable housing plan that stalled this spring amid pushback from local governments, and a preschool expansion that has been on hold amid budget constraints after adding 11,000 of a planned 20,000 seats.

His Republican opponent, Darren Bailey, has promised to suspend the 48.3-cent-per-gallon gas tax for six months by executive order, a legally questionable idea since the Illinois Constitution gives the legislature the exclusive power to raise revenue. Pritzker has emphasized stabilizing state finances, citing 12 credit rating upgrades. Still, budget pressures may worsen because of economic uncertainty and federal cuts to health care and food assistance. Democratic consultant Pete Giangreco said third terms generally do not go well and that the state's finances could complicate any presidential ambitions.

Pritzker has not proposed a broad plan to raise revenue. After voters rejected his graduated income tax amendment in 2020, despite $58 million of his own money spent on the effort, he has left any new attempt to lawmakers. He has taken a similar approach to property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation, noting they are set locally. He pointed to higher state education funding, online sales tax collection, legalized cannabis and expanded video gambling as steps that make local cuts easier.

His campaign shared a State Board of Education report showing nearly a third of the state's 842 school districts had enough cash for 360 days or more of expenses in the 2024-25 school year. Even so, districts still drew 64% of revenue from local sources in the 2025 budget year, down from 66% when he took office. University of Illinois Chicago professor David Merriman said lowering bills would require money from elsewhere, and called Illinois "an extremely anti-tax state" for a Democratic one.

Some local leaders have bristled at the approach. Pritzker's original budget this year would have cut the local share of income tax revenue, an idea the legislature rejected. His claim to have eliminated the state grocery tax has also drawn criticism, since the 1% levy's revenue went entirely to local governments, and more than half of the roughly 1,300 cities and villages reinstated it. Illinois Municipal League CEO Brad Cole said the state must be "a real partner, not just saying they're a partner."

Independent candidate Collin Corbett, a former Republican strategist, has also criticized the governor on property taxes and proposes expanding the sales tax to services. Meanwhile, Pritzker has picked up unexpected support: the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which opposed his minimum wage increase and sat out the 2018 and 2022 races, endorsed him on Monday.