Pritzker on Political Violence: "The World Has Devolved"
Governor JB Pritzker and Democratic legislators tour a trade school in suburban Melrose Park Monday. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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Following an arson attack on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion over the weekend, Governor JB Pritzker decried political violence Monday but declined to discuss if he had been the subject of additional threats or what was being changed in his protection detail.
Speaking at an unrelated news conference in suburban Melrose Park Monday, Pritzker said he’s concerned about a rise in political violence.
“The world has devolved where attacks on elected officials are happening more frequently. They’re dangerous, deadly, and its a sad situation,” he said. “There’s too much divisiveness and, again, the violence that comes into it should be something that we’re all deeply concerned about and push back against.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, like Pritzker, is Jewish, and the attack is reportedly being investigated in relation to Shapiro’s faith.
“This happened on the first night of Passover. I don’t know if it was related to the attack, but I can say that anti-Semitism has been on the rise across the United States for several years now,” Pritzker said. “It’s reached kind of a crescendo, a peak. I hope it might come down. But this makes me think maybe not.
Pritzker wouldn’t say what kinds of security measures the Illinois State Police may be taking in light of the Pennsylvania attack.
“There is a heightened sensitivity to the idea of an invasion by people of those [Governor’s Mansion] grounds even when there are cameras and State Police around guarding.”
“You can’t block yourself off from being around everyday life and greeting people on the streets, in my view,” he said. “My team is careful to make sure that I’m safe in the process and my wife is safe, too.”
