Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the nation’s wealthiest officeholder, gave his campaign fund $35 million as he has dodged questions about whether he officially plans to seek election to a second term in 2022.
The Illinois State Board of Elections reported Friday that Pritzker injected the money into his campaign fund a week earlier, bringing his fund’s total to $35.4 million as he enters the 2022 campaign season.
Pritzker, an heir to the family’s Hyatt Hotels fortune, is worth an estimated $3.5 billion, according to Forbes. He spent more than $171 million of his own money to defeat one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy equity investor, in 2018 in the most expensive governor’s race in Illinois history.
More recently, Pritzker spent $58 million of his own money on his signature plan asking voters to amend the Illinois Constitution to replace the state’s currently mandated flat-rate income tax with a graduated-rate tax aimed at boosting taxes on the wealthy.
His proposal was overwhelmingly defeated by voters in November, amid distrust over how Springfield spends its tax dollars and $53.8 million in opposition spending by Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of the Chicago-based Citadel investment group. Griffin is worth $16 billion, according to Forbes.
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Pritzker has repeatedly dismissed questions about his political future as the 2022 campaign season has begun, saying he is focused on public health efforts to deal with COVID-19 and help restore the state’s economy in a post-pandemic environment.
“I’m just focused on the job that I’ve got today and making sure we get through this pandemic and get everybody vaccinated,” Pritzker said Monday in an interview with the Tribune.
But the out-of-pocket donation represents the surest sign yet of his intention to seek a second term. Additionally, with the departure of embattled former House Speaker Michael Madigan from his post in government and as chairman of the state Democratic Party, Pritzker will be counted upon more heavily to help fund party efforts to maintain Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate.
In the final three months of 2020, Pritzker reported spending more than $700,000 from his campaign fund, including giving $150,000 to the political funds of the Illinois AFL-CIO; $100,000 to Personal PAC, the politically active pro-abortion rights group; $82,000 to the Chicago Federation of Labor; and $20,000 to the Cook County Democratic Party.
Campaign finance records also showed Pritzker spent an additional $152,587 on renting private aircraft during the Oct 1-Dec. 31 time period.
The Tribune’s Dan Petrella contributed.
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