Former Pritzker, Biden Adviser Budzinski Running for Congress, but Against Whom?
Former Pritzker adviser Nikki Budzinski, pictured with campaign volunteers in 2018, is running for Congress.
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Former Pritzker adviser and recently departed Chief of Staff to President Biden’s Office of Management and Budget Nikki Budzinski is running for Congress in what is currently the 13th District.
It’s not much of a surprise. Her name had been tied to a run for Congress since announcing her departure from the Administration about a month ago. Her announcement came in the form of a 78-second video highlighting her ties to Biden, central Illinois, and labor. Curiously, the announcement video doesn’t feature Pritzker at all—not by name, picture, b-roll, or implication.
It may be a sign that Budzinski has polling that shows Pritzker’s support downstate is tenuous.
While Budzinski is announcing that she’s taking on incumbent Republican Rodney Davis, the reality is we still don’t know what the current 13th will look like in 2022. We still haven’t seen a congressional map and likely won’t until October.
Budzinski only took one shot at Davis in the video claiming he “isn’t doing enough” for the district. That’s not scorched earth language, so I don’t know that she’s expecting him to be her opponent next year.
We have requested an interview with Budzinski. A spokesman for Davis attempted to tie Budzinski to former House Speaker Michael Madigan.
“Nikki Budzinski is a lifelong Democrat political operative who is steeped in corrupt, Madigan-style politics.,” the spokesman said. “When she was a top staffer for Governor Pritzker, she helped Mike Madigan put his allies in patronage jobs throughout state government. Illinois voters have had enough of corrupt Madigan Machine politicians like Budzinski.”
Budzinski never worked for Madigan.