With 88 percent of the state’s precincts counted, Pritzker had 55 percent of the vote to Bailey’s 42 percent, amid signs that Democrats had overcome statewide concerns about a possible surge of anti-corruption attitudes fueling Republicans, according to with unofficial results. Pritzker also had significant leads in the Chicago area and among suburban voters who are key in state elections. “To the people of Illinois: Thank you for placing your trust in me to continue our mission for four more years. I will not let you down,” Pritzker told a crowd at his “thank you” party at the Marriott Marquis in the South Loop. In his victory speech, Pritzker never mentioned Bailey or the often divisive race, but instead offered praise for his first term as governor before offering to be a “happy warrior” to help Democrats fight nationally. level against Republicans allied with the former president. Donald Trump. The broad reach of Pritzker’s speech did little to quell talk of his interest in a 2024 Democratic presidential nomination if President Joe Biden does not seek a second term. Pritzker said he plans to serve a second term as governor and supports Biden for a second term as president. In his speech on Tuesday, he said he was “thrilled to spend another four years serving as your governor.” “When I was making the decision to run for a second term as governor of Illinois, I asked myself if I was ready for the fight again, because this is a moment that requires a spine of steel for years to come, as the founding ideas of our nation are under siege,” Pritzker said. “To the false patriots and their helpers: You do not love the United States if you are not willing to defend it against a man who would destroy it. Donald Trump is the modern incarnation of the tyranny our founding fathers feared most,” he said. Pritzker also thanked his campaign for facing and overcoming opposition from wealthy MAGA Republicans and their “political bandits (who) spewed lies and innuendo.” Bailey tried to console supporters at the Crowne Plaza Springfield by telling them, “There’s still room for a miracle, my friends, still room for a miracle until all the votes are counted.” But later in his six-and-a-half-minute speech, he was overcome with emotion as he acknowledged that he had called Pritzker to concede defeat. Bailey vowed to remain politically active, even though he resigned his congressional seat when running for governor, saying, “I will never stop listening to your voices. I can not. My family depends on it.” Political associates of veteran U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro have privately expressed concerns that Bailey is considering a primary challenge for the Republican congressman in two years. Bailey did not address that, but said, “Republicans should be the loyal opposition in Springfield, loyal to our state, loyal to our country, loyal to our constitution — but opposed to the radical policies of the Democrats.” The defeated Republican also gave the Democratic winner a free shot. “Illinois can be better. Illinois should be better. Our leaders must be better. And JB Pritzker, you have to be better. You have to be better for Illinois. You must be better for our children and you must be better for our grandchildren.” The vote capped more than a year and a half of campaigning that began with disagreements over Pritzker’s handling of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic but has evolved to address crime, security, Trump, abortion, LGBTQ and civil rights. to finally return to the COVID-19 mitigation concerns about childhood vaccinations raised by Bailey, whose candidacy began with his opposition to the governor’s executive orders. Gov. JB Pritzker hugs his wife MK Pritzker after declaring victory on election night at a rally at the Marriott Marquis Chicago hotel on Nov. 8, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) In a contest in which each called the other divisive and extreme, the line between Pritzker and Bailey was very clear. Pritzker, a businessman and billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, raced to enshrine abortion rights in state law as a US Supreme Court ruling returned the issue to the states. He vowed to protect LGBTQ and contraceptive rights from threats from Bailey and other conservatives. The governor has also shored up his fiscal stewardship amid a pandemic environment, leading to six credit upgrades in contrast to Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner’s budget-free years and launching a massive public works program. Bailey opposes abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, and has fiercely attacked criminal justice changes aimed at racial justice as a threat to increased crime. Laws expanding gay rights were “wicked,” Bailey said. In a tweet on Election Day morning, Pritzker said: “Too much is at stake to let Darren Bailey and his extremist allies drag our hard-earned progress. Tomorrow, we protect our fundamental freedoms, lift up working families and elect pro-worker, pro-choice, pro-civil rights candidates up and down the ballot.” As has become his custom with his conservative evangelical Christian beliefs early in his campaign, Bailey said he and his wife, Cindy, fasted Tuesday “as we rely on God to offer hope, to offer restoration, to offer a new day for Illinois.” “Probably the best thing about it as Cindy and I sat down and thought about it this morning is that we have absolutely no regrets,” Bailey said of the campaign as he delivered his near-daily dedication on Facebook Live. “The stones are all lifted up.” Pritzker effectively launched his re-election campaign in March of last year, when he put $35 million of his own money into his campaign fund. He did not officially announce his bid for a second term until three months later. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton walks across the stage before declaring victory on election night at a rally at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Chicago on November 8, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) At the time, Pritzker was betting his re-election bid on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, relying on the use of executive orders that closed businesses, closed schools to classroom learning and prevented non-essential workers from going to the workplace. Many of the governor’s initiatives have received pushback from Republicans who have criticized Pritzker for acting like a “dictator.” “I may not have made all the right decisions” in handling the pandemic, he acknowledged in a campaign announcement video. But, he said, every step of the way he “followed the science” to protect residents. But the idea of re-election based on pandemic politics soon gave way to criminal issues and the governor’s signature of the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, law. The GOP’s attacks on the law, especially provisions for suspected felons to receive no-cash bail unless ordered held by a judge, put Pritzker on the defensive on a critical platform for many of his allies, especially black lawmakers in Springfield. The crime issue also overshadowed Pritzker’s efforts to present himself as a strong fiscal steward in a state known for its shaky finances, even as he paid off a huge backlog of unpaid bills to vendors that provided state services that accrued over a two-year period. budget. gridlock under Rauner. [ After a tumultuous first term, Gov. J.B. Pritzker spends big and plays it safe in reelection bid ] In June, just before the state primary, where Pritzker faced no real opposition, the nation’s highest court overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision that formalized the federal right to obtain an abortion and send the matter to the states for resolution. Pritzker, like many other Democrats locally and nationally, has embraced abortion as a women’s rights issue threatened by Republicans and warned that other rights that help racial and ethnic groups as well as the LGBTQ community could also be threatened. A deadly mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade days later in Highland Park provided a platform for Pritzker to promote his support for banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as well as enhanced background checks. The incident also became one of several gaffes for Bailey, a gun owner’s rights advocate who wants to overturn the state’s gun owner ID law required to purchase a firearm. In a July 4 video, Bailey acknowledged the shooting incident that continues to unfold, but urged people to “move on” and “celebrate” the holiday while the suspected gunman was on the loose. Unlike when he scored his initial victory over Rauner, Pritzker now has a record as governor. He championed increases in the minimum wage and the legalization of marijuana among his first-time successes. But for the most part, Pritzker never outlined a comprehensive second-term agenda. He acknowledged inflation by delaying a planned gas tax hike until January and offered checks on property tax breaks and said he hoped to improve state revenue to the point where he could make the tax break permanent. He also said he would not seek a repeat of his failed first-term signature initiative — a graduated income tax adjusted to higher wages to replace the state’s flat tax — after a proposed constitutional amendment was overwhelmingly defeated by voters in 2020. For Bailey, his nomination represented an unlikely rise for a wealthy farmer and state businessman whose…
