Tiptoeing around the potential of his own presidential run, Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday said he plans to be “very involved” in the 2028 presidential election and called a roster of Democratic governors waiting in the wings “the best bench” he’s ever seen.
Speaking at a Punchbowl News event in Chicago, Pritzker also offered up a critique of the Democratic Party — a similar platform that another prominent Chicagoan, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is using as he also explores a presidential bid.
“I do think that in ‘28, whoever’s running on the Democratic side needs to be running not just on restoration, but also a renewal of American values,” Pritzker said. “I think Democrats over the years have kind of lost our way. It’s very important to me that we actually follow through.”
Asked directly if he planned to run for president, the governor called the election “the most important election of our lifetimes.”
“What I can tell you, in ‘28, I’m going to be very involved,” Pritzker said. “…We have to restore and also improve the trajectory of the United States — and many of the problems that we’re currently facing, we faced in Illinois.”
The governor, who is running for his third term, faces Republican Gov. Darren Bailey in November. He has repeatedly said his current focus is that election, but presidential primaries would creep up soon after.
Should Pritzker run for president, he could be battling a primary alongside fellow Democratic governors, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Pritzker said governors “are best positioned to run the federal government because governors have to deliver.”
“We don’t get to just vote on things and then come home and say, ‘Well, I voted for it. I know it didn’t go into effect because I was in the minority, but hey, I voted for it,’” Pritzker said. “We don’t have a choice as governors. We have to do things that are benefiting people, and I think you find if you look across all the governors, we have quite a bench. That’s I think maybe the best bench I’ve ever seen in waiting to run for president. So I’m going to be very involved in helping to elect a Democratic president.”
Recent polls have shown Pritzker polling between 1% and 7%. An Emerson College poll conducted between May 24 and 25 had Pritzker at 4%. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg topped that poll at 18%, followed by Newsom at 16% and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 11%, according to a poll results being collected by the New York Times.
Emanuel has been polling at 1% or less, but continues to release a centrist platform that both criticizes the Democratic Party and offers up a betting and prediction markets tax, and a push for a mandatory retirement age of 75 for the president and across branches of the federal government, among other policy plans. The former congressman, White House chief of staff and former U.S. ambassador to Japan last month rode his bike through New Hampshire to meet voters in the state that typically holds the first presidential primary.
One of Emanuel’s key themes, on TV and podcast appearances and op-eds, is that Democrats can’t just focus on resisting President Donald Trump — they need a plan. Pritzker is echoing the same message. In April, Pritzker told Rev. Al Sharpton that the next president, the 48th in history, needs an “Agenda 48” to counter Project 2025.