Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is being mentioned by some as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2024. The editors of the Wall Street Journal take note of Mr. Pritzker’s lackluster performance as governor:
Research outfit Wirepoints notes in a new report that Illinois’s real GDP grew a mere 0.5% between the first quarters of 2019 and 2022, the first three years of Mr. Pritzker’s governorship. That’s by far the slowest growth in the region. Indiana’s GDP increased by 6.1%, Iowa’s by 5.2%, and Michigan (3.7%), Kentucky (3.3%) and Missouri (3.1%) lapped it too. Even slow-growing Wisconsin (1.6%) recorded triple the growth of Illinois.
Mr. Pritzker can’t blame climate change. Illinois’s lagging GDP is especially remarkable given it benefited mightily from rising farm commodity prices. Agricultural GDP in Illinois rose 25.4% during the three-year period, which was more than in Iowa (21.2%), Missouri (15%), Michigan (11.4%) and Kentucky (0.4%).
Yet high taxes, crime and lousy schools are driving residents and businesses to other states. Ken Griffin recently said he’s moving his Citadel hedge fund and securities trading firm to Miami from Chicago. Caterpillar is replanting its corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas, and Boeing is relocating its head office to Arlington, Virginia.
Illinois lost $8.5 billion in adjusted gross income from out-migration in 2020, or about 1.9% of AGI, ranking 49th in the country. The only state that lost a larger share was New York. Florida gained $23.7 billion and New Hampshire $960 million. Maybe Mr. Pritzker has sojourned to these low-tax states to hit up Democratic donors who have decamped from Illinois.
Mr. Pritzker and Democrats were worried enough about his re-election that they spent more than $30 million during the GOP primary to boost Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey who was considered the weakest candidate in the field. But we wonder if Mr. Pritzker really wants to stick around for a full second term when the state and Chicago pension liabilities may again become a crisis.
Running for President might be a nice diversion that spares him from dealing with the mess Democrats have made of Illinois.
I didn’t want JB Pritzker as Illinois’s governor for a number of reasons:
- I don’t think much of billionaires being elected to executive office.
- To add insult to injury Mr. Pritker is a trust fund baby.
- He was basically elected as a figurehead so that Mike Madigan could continue to run the state unimpeded.
- His misprision of Rod Blagojevich’s felonies should, at the very least, have caused him to be disbarred and rendered unqualified for office.
As governor he has lived down to my expectations. The sole good thing about JB Pritzker’s being elected president would be that it would get him out of Illinois.
He’s running or wants people to know he’s willing to run. He apparently has promised that he wouldn’t run against Biden, so he’s willing to play the part of Octavian, but not of Antonius.
His advantage is that as the second wealthiest politician in America, he can probably grow an organization relatively quickly and draw staff. He might use the gubernatorial campaign as a starter.
I don’t think the national media will scrutinize his record as the WSJ does. His main shortcoming is failing to pass the income tax referendum that was a centerpiece to his campaign and which I attribute to his failure to craft a Constitutional amendment to assure those who might have agreed to it with limitations. I certainly would expect the FBI tape of his conversations with Blagojevich to make an appearance.
One billionaire who came from money was one too many. Could we pass a constitutional amendment to keep them out?
Steve