JB Pritzker May Be Running for More Than Governor

It’s St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, and JB Pritzker is on a boat cruising down the city’s green-dyed river. An icy breeze whips beer cans across the deck as the Illinois governor takes a swig of Redbreast whiskey from a flask offered to him by a bagpiper. Weaving through the crowd, he mingles with the tipsy guests, talking housing policy with a visiting Irish diplomat, joking that they don’t make kilts in his size, and chatting up the members of the holiday parade court. Even here on the party boat, the city awash in festive green, President Donald Trump is not far from minds. Colleen Kelch, a marketing professional and member of the queen’s court, grows serious as she details Pritzker’s battles with Trump and his defense of LGBTQ people in the state. “He fights for us,” Kelch says. As he campaigns for a third term, Pritzker is riding his battles with the President to national prominence. His re-election campaign mentions the Commander in Chief more than it does his GOP challenger, and he blasts Trump ad nauseam on social media. Like other blue-state governors, he has sued and trolled the White House. But he has gone further than most of his peers: after Trump sent federal law-enforcement agents into Chicago, Pritzker created an accountability commission to create a public record, investigate, and recommend possible actions against officials he believes overstepped. He’s demanded Trump reimburse the state for about $8.6 billion in tariffs later ruled unconstitutional. “People ask me why I push back on Trump so much,” he tells TIME. “Every day you let an authoritarian go unchecked is another day that people are losing their rights and maybe even losing their lives.”AdvertisementIn a primary, Pritzker would face scrutiny of everything from his past support for AIPAC to his family’s offshore trusts. Some Democrats are skeptical that an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune can win over a party that wants to shed its elitist image and win back working-class voters. “He casts himself as the benevolent billionaire,” says Victor Reyes, an Illinois Democratic political consultant, “but it’s gonna be hard for the Democratic Party to say we are against the whole billionaire class but we’re gonna nominate this billionaire.”For the moment, Pritzker is riding high, leveling his attacks against Trump with a happy-warrior vibe, alternating grim warnings about the demise of democracy one moment and dad jokes the next. “That’s not really coffee, is it?” he chides a member of the plumbers’ union holding a paper cup. Then he smiles widely as the boat dumps more bright-green liquid into the city’s river.AdvertisementAt Lou Mitchell’s diner in the West Loop, a waitress moves to refill Pritzker’s (actual) coffee, and he reflexively shields his mint green tie. “This is my genius business idea for after I’m governor,” he says, describing a tie that unfolds into a bib. “You can get in on it.”Dismissing Pritzker’s business ideas seems unwise. With a net worth of nearly $4 billion, he is among the richest elected officials in America. His family name is on museums, architecture awards, and law schools. He has poured money into Democratic candidates, groups, and causes. The ability to bankroll his own campaigns, Pritzker argues, makes him one of the few politicians no one can buy—which is, of course, an argument Trump once made too. “It’s not like every wealthy person is a terrible person or can’t understand other people, or every poor person can’t understand the…

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