In an interview ahead of his Democratic National Convention speech Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker elaborated on an earlier remark that he had some “concern” over President Joe Biden’s electoral chances before he quit the race.
“It was really just a concern that if we don’t win, we’re going to end up with Donald Trump, and if Joe Biden isn’t able to perform in the debate, where you have the best chance of showing the contrast, then it would be challenging in the general election,” Pritzker said early Tuesday. “Having said that, I supported Joe Biden through and through, to the very end.”
Pritzker told Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in an otherwise light-hearted video segment filmed last week and posted Monday that he had some concerns about Biden’s reelection prospects following the president’s shaky debate performance in June.
“I love Joe Biden, so watching the debate performance felt like, you know, he’s going to get harmed in the election by what happened in the debate, even though he’s somebody who’s fought his whole life for the things Democrats care about,” Pritzker said on Tuesday.
The governor is in the national media spotlight this week as a de facto local host for the DNC, which runs through Thursday. He’s expected to speak later Tuesday on the United Center convention floor, and is also scheduled for an afternoon interview at the on-site CNN-Politico Grill.
The governor made his comments as he went about his daily DNC breakfast circuit, in which Democratic power players make brief speeches to state delegations meeting over eggs, cereal and self-dispensed coffee.
At stops with the Georgia, North Carolina and California delegations, Pritzker highlighted his ties to the states and made comments similar to those he gave during his delegation visits on Monday. After Pritzker described himself as a “billionaire” in a punchline at one point in his speech, a young person in the Georgia gathering yelled out “Socialists for Pritzker!” from the buffet line, alluding to a niche group of the governor’s supporters that has a presence on social media.
The convention, which serves as a Democratic pep rally celebrating the party’s presidential ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, kicked off Monday night at the UC with a brief appearance by Harris and a keynote address from Biden.
“Of course, Kamala Harris is amazing and I think she’s turned out to be an even better candidate than everybody expected,” Pritzker said Tuesday.
He also lauded Biden’s valedictory address: “And Joe Biden, I mean, what a class act last night and just in general in his life.”
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Also making the rounds at the Hyatt Regency Tuesday morning were Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, both of whom, like Pritzker, are considered to be part of a bench of next-generation Democratic leadership.
While Pritzker rushed between delegation breakfasts and largely declined to take questions from groups of media, Shapiro attracted a gaggle of reporters outside the California delegation breakfast.
At the Illinois delegation breakfast at downtown’s Royal Sonesta Hotel, Democrats on the state and national level emphasized their support for workers’ and reproductive rights; how they’d be best protected by Harris and Walz; and how another Trump presidency could put those rights in jeopardy.
“She believes deeply that government can and should be a force for good, right? That government can and should fight for the little guy. It should be about protecting people who won’t always have protections, who might not regularly have a seat at the table,” Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su said of Harris to a large gathering of Democrats.
“His way is not the American way,” she said of Trump.
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon joked that Walz is giving “boring old white guys everywhere a chance to redeem ourselves.”
Harmon praised Walz for his “Midwestern dad sensibility” and touted Harris as “a person of integrity, a person of intellect, a person of decency, rather than someone who looks out for himself.”
Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs also laid it on thick on Trump, alluding to his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that was aimed at preventing the Electoral College vote count that made Biden president.
“Do you know how you stop a criminal? With a prosecutor,” Frerichs said to an applause, alluding to Harris’ background as a former prosecutor and attorney general in California. “Do you know how you stop a schoolyard bully? With a teacher, like Tim Walz.”
With respect to reproductive rights, in bashing Republicans, Frerichs shared his own personal story about how in vitro fertilization made it possible for him and his wife to have twin babies.
“And when the other party claims to be pro-life and claims to be pro-family but they would deny me and my wife the right to have our own family, I call bulls— on it,” Frerichs said to an applause.