The Only Way Pritzker Beats Trump Is By Making Illinois the Anti-Florida

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J.B. Pritzker is setting the stage for a 2028 bid. He’s got the cash (Forbes ranks his net worth over $3.5 billion), he’s nationally visible (see: his DNC speeches, MSNBC rounds, and his punching back at Trump), and he’s popular, a rarity for any Democrat right now. Popular enough to have a whole bunch of meme pages devoted to him not in a derogatory way — even rarer!

Pritzker’s not the only one eyeing the presidency — but he’s one of the only contenders with real governing power behind him: a multi-billion-dollar state budget, control of one of the nation’s largest economies, and the ability to direct meaningful funding toward what matters.

The Democratic Primary Is Filling Up With the Wrong People

The rest? Mostly podcast alumni and MSNBC guests hoping no one remembers their last campaign slogan that prove they’ve learned absolutely nothing about the moment we’re in. Rahm Emanuel is doing… something (definitely watch if you’re having a bad day). Walz has beat back the demon of silence, or whoever was making him sweat on the 2024 campaign trail, so he can again say real things, and Newsom. Well, Newsom’s doing something too, (surprisingly!) more awful than Rahm.

No matter how firebrand they might act on a podcast, these guys are still stuck on business as usual, with consultants, party brass, and D.C. consensus in mind. They’re thinking about the presidency in the wrong way, letting the same people suggesting Gavin Newsom’s podcast guests talk about tone as the far right burns down the country.

There’s another group contemplating the presidency, but treating the rapid, horrifying economic and financial damage Trump has already caused as the existential threat it is. Neither Sanders nor AOC has declared a 2028 run, but their high-profile “Fighting Oligarchy” tour and rising poll numbers suggest they're both positioning themselves as major players in the party’s post-Biden future.

Pritzker Doesn’t Need to Be the Moderate. He Needs to Be the Governor Who Fights Back.

With the ambitions he’s made clear, and the ring already full of contenders, Pritzker might be tempted to play the “responsible moderate” foil, joining the talking heads on Bill Maher or whatever other podcast is relevant to your uncle who read James Carville’s last book. But this is a trap, one that JB doesn’t have to fall into. Because Pritzker has one piece of strategic leverage that can’t be matched by any other candidate in the ring, even more valuable than the billions he is famous for.

JB has actual power in Illinois that can be wielded right now, and the fact that he’s facing more attacks than his counterparts is part of this advantage. This is the core strategic advantage Pritzker has — not a tweet, not a speech, not a fundraiser, but governing infrastructure and the ability to fight back against federal attacks with real policy.

The best way for him to take advantage of that leverage is to USE IT, with the same speed, ambition, and willingness to break rules that has allowed Trump to completely demolish the rule of law, the justice system, and the global economy in less than 2 months. And if Pritzker wants to understand just how far—and how fast—a governor can go when they decide to treat state power like a weapon, he doesn’t have to look far. Florida already wrote the playbook.

What To Learn From The Worst Governors Out There

Under Ron DeSantis, Florida became the laboratory for authoritarianism in real time, a go-to testing ground for shock doctrine PR stunts that dismantle human rights and consolidate governing power. From the "Don't Say Gay" law, which criminalizes the mere mention of LGBTQ+ people in classrooms, to legislation allowing book bans and surveillance of school libraries, DeSantis has turned Florida's education system into a stage for right-wing cultural dominance: banning books, erasing trans people and immigrants, and slashing corporate taxes while pouring billions into police budgets, all while pushing through laws that criminalize aid to undocumented immigrants and arresting formerly incarcerated people for voting, while gutting actual voting infrastructure. This wasn’t governance. It was theater. The national media played along, making him the model of “competence” in red-state rule.

Texas followed suit. Governor Greg Abbott deployed the National Guard to the border in Operation Lone Star, a multi-billion-dollar escalation of state-led immigration enforcement, riddled with corruption and legal overreach. He signed laws banning diversity programs in higher ed, restricting classroom instruction on race and gender, and punishing school districts with inclusive policies. These weren’t cost-cutting measures. They were expensive agenda-setting assaults on civil rights and social infrastructure.

DeSantis and Abbott didn’t balance budgets or "return power to the people." They expanded surveillance, criminalization, and crony contracts—then dared the federal government to stop them. They broke laws. They taunted the courts. And they got away with it, paving the way for so many of Trump's illegal and horrifying moves over the last few months to tear apart the federal government

The way DeSantis and Abbott have acted in Florida and Texas is how federalism works now, which is to say — it doesn’t. The right has embraced rogue-state governance, and unless the left responds in kind, we’re not resisting—we’re rehearsing our defeat.

Illinois Needs to be the Anti-Florida

The best way to run for president right now isn’t to argue that you’d make a better president. It’s to prove that your state can not survive only authoritarianism, but build a better world. Illinois needs visible state capacity: the ability to govern at scale, protect its people, and outlast sabotage.

The best way for JB to do this — and prove he is the best candidate for President — is to aggressively use his power to achieve material gains for working people. Massive, visible public investment. Well-funded public education. Unapologetic pro-labor governance. Climate infrastructure wins. Building the institutions — inside state agencies, local jurisdictions, civil society — that can survive what’s coming, from mass voter purges to federal rollbacks of basic rights.

Pritzker has the power to fund free public transit, protect abortion access in red-state border counties, and build green union jobs at scale. That’s not theoretical. That’s leverage the right would kill for.

Real power right now isn’t just about passing laws — it’s about funding them. The right understands this: DeSantis didn’t just ban books, he poured billions into enforcement. Abbott didn’t just rant about immigration — he built a state-funded surveillance regime to back it up. In this moment, political courage isn’t just rhetorical. It’s fiscal. And it requires taking real risks.

If Pritzker wants to do more than defend Illinois in press releases, he needs to treat the state budget like a shield. Yet, in early 2025, Pritzker proposed eliminating the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program, which would strip coverage from nearly 33,000 undocumented people in Illinois. A move like this risks undermining the very power he needs to build.

Luckily, Pritzker still has to lean into his better instincts, where he already surpasses other candidates: he can keep holding the line on LGBTQ rights, punching back on Trump’s rhetoric, and treat this moment like the emergency it is.

This Is the Part Where Pritzker Decides What He’s Really Running For

Illinois must lead right now. And Pritzker is the only one in the national ring with the budget, the stage, and the governing power to show us what survival looks like.

Or — he can fade into the consultant-scripted chorus of dudes auditioning for 2012.