Cnn
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced on Thursday that he would present himself for a third term in 2026, in the midst of speculation on his ambitions for the 2028 presidential race, with the publication of a campaign launch video featuring the lively criticism of President Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump clearly indicated that he would not stop at anything to get to get.
In the video, Pritzker praises his achievements as governor during his first two terms, highlighting the budgets of successful states, minimum wage increases, firearms safety efforts and employment growth. Pritzker also echoes many Democratic candidates on key issues, including affordability and abortion rights.
And the billionaire governor, among several high -level potential contenders for the presidential appointment of his party in 2028, presents himself as an effective bulwark against the Trump administration.
“The government should defend families who work and be a force for good, not a weapon of revenge. Donald Trump clearly stopped that he would stop to make his way. I am not about to stay and let him demolish everything we build in Illinois,” said Pritzker, just in front of his official declaration that “I am running for the re -election”.
In a speech to the supporters on Thursday, Pritzker criticized Trump as a “megalomaniac narcissistic” while warning against the complacency in the Democratic Party.
“Illinois, we have made great progress over the past seven years – but we have great challenges to come. And although it is certainly tempting to put it all at the feet of the megalomaniac narcissist in the White House and his car of malignant clown in Congress, the hard truth is that we all share part of the blame,” said Pritzker. “For too long, politicians have chosen what is certain about what is daring. It is time to take our clues from young people who arise and shout that you cannot abandon the fight before you even start – the fear of failure is not an excuse to never even try. ”
Pritzker also contributed to accessibility problems, saying that “everything is too expensive”. He criticized the Trump administration approach as part of the problem.
“From grocery stores to concert tickets to mortgages, including cars, health care, we have created a world where a job is not enough to raise children, a salary not enough to have a house and a working life is not enough to obtain retirement,” he said. “And the response does not reside in prices that tax our workers, the budgets that interact Medicaid and Doge Bros which go beyond the financing of the search for our universities.”
In the aftermath of the losses of the Democrats in 2024, Pritzker became one of the many budding leaders of a party looking for a return to power. Already the governor with two mandates of the sixth most populated state in the country, Pritzker – heir to a historic family fortune – has exploited his richness and influence to enhance his profile while the rebuilt party.
He donated $ 1.5 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party earlier this year for the fight against the success of the Supreme Court of the State, confusing himself with a rival billionaire, Elon Musk, in an important victory for the Liberals. And he adopted a conflictual approach to the Trump administration while encouraging other Democrats to follow the plunge.
During a Capitol Hill hearing at the beginning of the month, Pritzker reprimanded the Trump administration for its immigration implementation measures and the deployment of military assets to respond to demonstrations in Los Angeles.
“We will not participate in the abuses of power. We will not violate the judicial orders. We will not ignore the Constitution. We will not challenge the Supreme Court. We will not suppress the rights of people to protest peacefully,” said Pritzker. “We respect and also expect this administration to respect the traditions and the legal precedents that dictate how and when our national guard and our soldier are deployed.”
PRITZKER too traveled In April, in the traditional presidential primary state of New Hampshire, further distinguishing speculation about its ambitions for 2028 while urging its party to withdraw to the fight against the second Trump administration. “The calculation,” he told a room full of accidental democrats, “is there.”
In a CNN interview During his visit to the state, Pritzker detailed his feelings on the policy of the moment.
“There is a certain momentum where people now feel – well, politicians feel like:” Oh, there is a political reason why I should now speak and be a fighter “. I don’t care about the reason why you join the fight at this point, we just need everyone there, right? He said. “And then there are others who join the fight because they devote themselves real that,” it is much worse than I thought and that gets worse. “And then I look at some of the people who have capitulated and I wonder, is that how you want people to think about you?
Edward-Isaac Dovere of CNN contributed to this report.