Pritzker Slams Trump, Praises Harris in Primetime DNC Address
Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday. (Photo: Block Club Chicago)
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As the host-state Governor of the Democratic National Convention who was under consideration for the Vice Presidential nomination two weeks ago, Governor JB Pritzker’s moment in front of the American political stage Tuesday lasted just eight minutes.
He was placed before a former credit card company executive and the Governor of New Mexico and after socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who railed on billionaires’ influence in politics. Pritzker has spent more than $300 million of his own money on his gubernatorial campaigns.
Awkward.
Multiple Democratic sources called the programming “a snub” of Pritzker, but the second term governor gave a boisterous stump speech heavy on attacks of GOP nominee Donald Trump and supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich,” said Pritzker. “But take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.”
Pritzker has an estimated wealth between $3-4 billion.
“We have a choice, America, between the man who left our country a total mess and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up,” Pritzker said. “And I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job.”
He praised Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as a pair to lift up the working class.
“They know that a White House that leads with kindness looks at someone who is struggling and sees not what they might cost society, but what they might create for it,” he said.
Pritzker took credit for Democratic policy successes in Illinois, like cutting the state’s minimal grocery tax and passing a capital plan.
But, Senate GOP Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) attacked Pritzker following Tuesday night’s speech, calling it “starkly disconnected” from his record as governor.
“He contends to be for lower taxes just months after imposing $1 billion in tax increases on Illinois families and businesses, while presiding over a state with the second-highest property taxes in the country,” Curran said. “He boasts of support for low-income families in the same year that he proposed a regressive tax increase that would only raise taxes on low and middle income earners. He says he supports policies for working people while overseeing the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s time for Gov. Pritzker to take a break from his national campaigning and focus on the job he was elected to.”