CHICAGO, IL — Last night, Governor JB Pritzker took to the debate stage to highlight his record of fighting for Illinois working families while Darren Bailey touted his failed record and extreme agenda. Illinoisans deserve a governor who will lower costs, raise wages, and protect their rights and freedoms — not someone who will bring Donald Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda to Illinois.
Below are key moments from Governor Pritzker that you should not miss:
- On restoring Illinois’ fiscal foundation: “One of the challenges that we have faced in this state has been that I got left by the last Republican governor, a situation in which we had massive deficits. We were having our credit rating go down, down, down, 24 times over the prior 15 years. And over the last eight years, I have balanced the budget eight times and gotten 12 credit upgrades. We have a whole lot more work to do. There’s no doubt about it. But making sure that we’re being fiscally responsible is hugely important.”
- On delivering for working families: “So, I want to tell people who I am. I’m somebody who fights for expansion of healthcare. I think everybody should have a doctor. I think we need universal preschool. I’ve been fighting for that my entire time in office… and I’ve been making sure that we lifted wages for people across the state. I voted and signed a bill that I pushed for to raise the minimum wage. Darren Bailey voted against it. He wants to lower your wages. I want to raise your wages, and I want to cut costs.”
- On Darren Bailey’s constant lies: “Lie after lie after lie. This is the Trump playbook. That’s what you’re hearing from Darren Bailey. And let me be clear also that Darren Bailey voted against balanced budgets every single year and he attacks my character… It’s another lie, let me tell you the truth.”
- On Darren Bailey raising property taxes: “Darren Bailey also mentioned property taxes, and let me be clear: property taxes are set at the local level. And when Darren Bailey had the opportunity, he raised property taxes 13 times… 81% is how much property taxes went up, when he had the opportunity. I’ve never voted in favor of raising property taxes.”
- On Darren Bailey supporting Trump’s failing economic policies: “Darren likes to talk about the amount of money that people are owed for tariffs. And guess what? They haven’t been getting that money back from the government, and Donald Trump lost at the Supreme Court. $2,200 was owed to every working family in the state of Illinois; they have not received a dime of it. Now, by the way, families are out about $3,300 per family. And I want to say, Darren Bailey’s never spoken up at all against Donald Trump’s policies. So, while he’s hurting farmers, Darren Bailey’s just letting it happen.”
- On protecting public safety in Illinois: “Let me be clear about some of the things that we’re doing in fighting for public safety. It’s my top priority. It is a vital part of what it is to live in the state of Illinois, to make sure that we have more police, and I’ve invested in state police. Darren Bailey voted against it. To make sure we have community violence interruption programs, which Darren Bailey once again voted against, and the prior Republican governor decimated. And a ban on assault weapons because I don’t think that something that can fire, as happened in Highland Park, and shoot 48 people within 60 seconds, that’s not a weapon that I think should be on the streets. Darren Bailey has no alternatives. He has no answer to public safety except he thinks more guns on the streets is the answer.”
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CONTACT: press@jbpritzkercampaign.com