{"id":226457,"date":"2026-10-03T22:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T22:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/a-billionaire-is-one-of-trumps-loudest-critics-will-democrats-send-him-to-the-white-house-theguardian-com\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T22:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T22:39:39","slug":"a-billionaire-is-one-of-trumps-loudest-critics-will-democrats-send-him-to-the-white-house-theguardian-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/a-billionaire-is-one-of-trumps-loudest-critics-will-democrats-send-him-to-the-white-house-theguardian-com\/","title":{"rendered":"A billionaire is one of Trump\u2019s loudest critics. Will Democrats send him to the White House? – theguardian.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Illinois governor seeks a third term, his growing national profile has fueled speculation about a possible White House bid
Send us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterm election<\/a>
When Donald Trump<\/a> returned to power, 20 long months ago, some state leaders wrung their hands, worrying what explicit resistance might cost their citizens \u2013 and their careers \u2013 during the second term of a vengeful president. JB Pritzker was not among them.
Two days after Trump\u2019s re-election, the Democratic governor of Illinois<\/a> warned the president would need to \u201ccome through me\u201d to reach the people of his state. He waited all of 30 days after the inauguration before drawing a comparison with Nazi Germany.
\u201cAll I\u2019m saying\u201d, Pritzker declared during his State of the State address<\/a> in February 2025, \u201cis when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control\u201d.
Not everyone grabbed a bucket.
While Pritzker is willing to cede that he was not entirely alone in standing up to Trump in those early months, prominent figures alongside him could be counted \u201con each of your digits\u201d, he suggests in an interview at his campaign headquarters in Chicago.
Several of his counterparts \u2013 from Gavin Newsom, who launched a legislative blitz<\/a> to curb immigration enforcement in California, to Janet Mills of Maine, who told Trump she would see him in court<\/a> over his bid to deny state funding over transgender athletes \u2013 could legitimately claim a digit.
Others have taken an altogether different tack. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is among those who have sought to strike a productive working relationship with the president. And in Washington, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer faced fierce criticism after some Democratic senators reached a bipartisan deal to end the longest-ever US government shutdown<\/a>.
Now, Pritzker suggests, the number of elected leaders willing to speak out aggressively against the administration is \u201cfinally\u201d growing. \u201cFor one reason or another, people have chosen to come on board with Team Fight, and get off of Team Cave.\u201d
Trump and Pritzker have a few things in common. Both are billionaires who inherited enormous wealth from their families. Both worked in business before entering politics. Both \u2013 no, the comparison pretty much ends there, says Pritzker, who, according to the governor\u2019s campaign, has not spoken to Trump since the Covid pandemic.
\u201cHe\u2019s a wannabe authoritarian, and I don\u2019t say that rhetorically,\u201d argues Pritzker, a philanthropist who helped build his state\u2019s Holocaust Museum before entering office and spent time with survivors. \u201cOne thing that they would tell you is that you cannot give an authoritarian an inch.\u201d
The governor is regularly cited as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee \u2013 encouraged, however implicitly, by his self-appointment as captain of Team Fight in Illinois. Amid visceral anger among voters<\/a> over the political status quo \u2013 not just at one party, or one president, but the sustained failure to fix big problems and improve their lives \u2013 could he do this job nationwide?
He has another election to win first.
Illinois is one of 36 states with gubernatorial elections coming in November. Pritzker is widely expected to become the state\u2019s first three-term governor in more than three decades. (His Republican opponent, state senator Darren Bailey, finished 12 points behind last time around.)
Pritzker, first elected during Trump\u2019s first term, says his tenure has been dominated by four crises: a fiscal quagmire inherited from his Republican predecessor; the Covid-19 pandemic; Texas governor Greg Abbott\u2019s move to send tens of thousands of migrants to Chicago<\/a>; and Trump\u2019s return.
All the while, he says, he has focused on affordability and the rights of Illinoisans, from raising the state minimum wage to codifying reproductive rights. After a string of credit rating upgrades, Pritzker likens alleviating the state\u2019s financial woes process to reorienting an aircraft carrier 180 degrees \u2013 something he claims to have done, although critics note<\/a> Illinois retains one of the lowest ratings in the country.
With Democrats hoping to use November\u2019s midterm elections to mount a significant fightback against Trump, Pritzker launched a $20m political action committee<\/a> to support party campaigns nationwide, recently flew to Texas<\/a> to help counter-program the Republican convention, and will soon head to South Carolina<\/a>, the first state in Democrats\u2019 next presidential nominating process, to address the NAACP state conference.
His job might be in the state of Illinois, but his career aspirations sure look national.
Time is slowly but surely ticking on the Trump era. With the president barred by the US constitution from running for a third term, the searing political spotlight will soon shift, whether he likes it or not, on to those vying to succeed him.
As Democrats<\/a> search for a candidate who could win back the White House and confine this chapter to the history books, speculation around Pritzker\u2019s aspirations stepped up a level last week when he disclosed he has been using a GLP-1 medication to lose weight over the past two years.
Pritzker \u201cknows what a lot of people may be thinking\u201d, reported<\/a> CBS News, which broke the news. \u201cEyeing a 2028 Bid, He Used a Weight-Loss Drug to Drop 80 Pounds<\/a>,\u201d ran the New York Times headline. \u201cAhead of Possible Presidential Bid, JB Pritzker Says He Is Taking Weight-Loss Drugs<\/a>,\u201d offered the Wall Street Journal.
Just how many times has he been asked if he\u2019s running for president? For the first time in our hour together, Pritzker hesitates. \u201cI\u2019m not sure the connection,\u201d he replies. \u201cNational political reporters can\u2019t help yourselves,\u201d he adds, referring to the way the announcement about his health was covered. \u201cI\u2019m not sure the question. You\u2019re asking \u2026 what are you asking me?\u201d
How many times has Pritzker \u2013 a politician <\/strong>who argues Democrats should campaign nationally on issues he so happens to have championed in his state \u2013 been asked if he\u2019s running for president? \u201cReporters that don\u2019t know me\u201d continue to ask \u201cvery often\u201d, he concedes. \u201cI understand why people ask the question,\u201d he continues, pointing to his record in Illinois. The conspicuous lack of a firm answer might also have something to do with it.
He is more open to discussing what exactly went wrong at the last election, and the factors behind the crushing defeat suffered by Kamala Harris in 2024.
Beyond the \u201centire setup\u201d of Joe Biden\u2019s withdrawal 15 weeks before polling day, Pritzker wishes the campaign had focused more on \u201cputting money in people\u2019s pockets\u201d, citing an increase in the national minimum wage, which has stood at $7.25 per hour<\/a> since 2009. \u201cPeople need to hear that you\u2019re going to do something tangible for them today, immediately.
\u201cI think the campaign should have entirely been about working families, the middle class, people striving to get there, and the most vulnerable,\u201d says Pritzker. \u201cAnd I often say those things \u2013 I mean, I talk about those people \u2013 because that\u2019s why I\u2019m a Democrat. And it\u2019s why, I think, most people are Democrats, or would vote for a Democrat.\u201d
It is also, perhaps coincidentally, one of the key areas where Pritzker says he has delivered in Illinois. From the outset as governor, he took the view that he should be \u201cfighting for the things that in your everyday life are challenging, fighting to overcome those challenges, and fighting for things that make it a little easier\u201d, he says. Even in campaign mode, he acknowledges one failure: his signature plan to overhaul the state\u2019s tax system from a flat rate to a graduated levy, which was rejected by voters<\/a> in 2020.
While Pritzker has endured his fair share of attacks and potshots as governor, not least from Trump<\/a>, a presidential run would bring a whole new layer of scrutiny \u2013 of his record, his background, and his wealth.
An heir to the Hyatt hotel chain who ran an investment firm with his brother before running for governor, Pritzker\u2019s personal fortune currently stands at about $4.2bn, according<\/a> to Forbes: significantly more than Trump\u2019s fortune before his return to office, albeit significantly less than Trump\u2019s fortune today.
In 2024, Pritzker made more than $1.4m<\/a> while playing blackjack on vacation. \u201cI was incredibly lucky,\u201d he said at a press conference at the time. \u201cIt was in Las Vegas, and I like to play cards,\u201d he added as an explanation. We\u2019ve all been there.
(The governor\u2019s campaign said he donated the winnings to charity.)
This year\u2019s Democratic primaries have been dominated by headlines about anti-establishment, anti-elite candidates \u2013 including some members of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA \u2013 clinching the party\u2019s nominations, from Michigan and Pennsylvania to New York and Florida. Pritzker has been watching closely.
\u201cI think there is a desperate need for elected officials to address affordability,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the candidates that are winning are the ones who are communicating their passion for the issue, and their articulation of the policies that will bring that. I think if you\u2019re not showing up with that, then you\u2019re missing the point.\u201d
Sure, Pritzker cedes across the boardroom table; \u201csome national reporters\u201d have \u201cfocused\u201d on DSA victories. \u201cBut I will just point out to you that that\u2019s a very, relatively small percentage of the results in primaries,\u201d he suggests. \u201cAlthough they\u2019re notable.\u201d
\u201cThe more outspoken people, even if they weren\u2019t DSA members, I think won,\u201d he adds. \u201cAnd they won because that is what people are feeling. People are hurting, genuinely pained, right now.\u201d
A notable number of Democratic candidates won the party\u2019s nomination by speaking out not only for those struggling to make ends meet \u2013 but also against those at the other end of the spectrum, with extreme wealth.
Is today\u2019s Democratic party really prepared to send a billionaire to the White House?
Pritzker allows a brief chuckle. \u201cCould we rephrase that question? Because you\u2019re trying to single me out, I think,\u201d he says. \u201cHow about if we say it a little \u2013 I\u2019ll just answer it the way I want to.\u201d
\u201cWhen I ran in [the Illinois gubernatorial] Democratic primary in 2018, people asked the question, do we really want a businessman billionaire to be our Democratic candidate for governor? I think a legitimate question, given \u2026 what people were seeing,\u201d he says, pointing again to Trump, but also Bruce Rauner, the former Republican Illinois governor \u2013 a mere multimillionaire at the time \u2013 whom he went on to defeat.
\u201cLegitimate question today,\u201d acknowledges Pritzker. \u201cLook at Elon Musk. Look at Sam Altman. Look at \u2013 we could make a list, whoever you want to fit in what sometimes people refer to as \u2018the oligarchs\u2019 in that group. I understand the skepticism that people have about wealthy people.
\u201cBut what I can tell you is that, over the course of the last eight years \u2013 and I think over the course of my life, really, but certainly as people have paid more attention over the last eight years \u2013 I\u2019ve proven that I have, in fact, done more for working people in this state than maybe any governor in the country, and \u2026 restored services for the most vulnerable people in our state.
\u201cAnd so the real question is, what are your values? Not how much money do you have, but what do you believe?\u201d<\/p>\n

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As the Illinois governor seeks a third term, his growing national profile has fueled speculation about a possible White House bidSend us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterm electionWhen Donald Trump returned to power, 20 long months ago, some state leaders wrung their hands, worrying what explicit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}