CHICAGO – Gov. JB Pritzker isn’t a presidential candidate yet, but he announced a 200-point national agenda he wants congressional Democrats to tackle after the party’s enormous victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Pritzker’s plan touches on everything from immigration to artificial intelligence to health care and reversing a litany of cuts President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have made over the last two years. The governor expects the state’s senators, Tammy Duckworth and newly elected Juliana Stratton, to execute that agenda, which he said needs to be done even before a Democrat can try to reclaim the White House in 2028.
“I believe that it’s possible that this president, having received the mandate against his policies, might be willing to talk to Democrats about the agenda that they’re putting forward and be willing to make a compromise,” Pritzker said at a news conference Wednesday in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood.
The plan, which was first released Wednesday morning to NBC News, gives Pritzker another opportunity to carve his own lane in Democratic politics as his national profile grows and he weighs running for president.
Pritzker repeated the same answer he’s given for more than a year now about presidential speculation– that he’s focused on doing what’s best for Illinoisians – before ending the news conference when asked what his timeline is for when he will give a definitive answer.
Duckworth volunteered that if Pritzker runs, she will support him “110%.”
The governor said his federal agenda isn’t meant to further any of his personal goals but rather to give Congress a roadmap for addressing the concerns voters expressed at the ballot box on Tuesday.
“The American people have given them a clear mandate and an urgent responsibility to repair the damage,” Pritzker said. “The work of fulfilling that responsibility and fighting for a better future needs to begin immediately — not a year from now, not six months from now.”
Though Republicans lost at the ballot box, Trump has two more years in office, meaning anything Pritzker wants Democrats to pass through Congress without GOP support will ultimately need Trump’s signature. Duckworth said she’s not worried about that.
“We can put things in front of him and dare him to veto them,” Duckworth said. “I think he’s too much of a chicken s— to veto a lot of this stuff.”
The “Fighting for Illinois” agenda
Trump broke a series of promises, Pritzker said, including to lower prices and not start new overseas wars.
“When Washington makes reckless decisions, the impact does not stay in Washington,” Pritzker said. “They land on the desks of our state agencies in Illinois, in our hospitals, in our schools, on our farms, and in the homes of hardworking families. State government administers these programs and is left picking up the pieces when Washington breaks them.”
Pritzker said his office for the last two years has been documenting every policy change and crafting responses expecting that one day, Democrats will have an opportunity to undo Trump’s missteps.
Pritzker’s agenda is 75 pages long and starts by calling for the reversal of specific executive action Trump has taken. Many specifically call for reinstating programs and funding Trump had eliminated, including restoring funding for public health research, or blocking new restrictions the administration has placed on access to programs.
Other parts require Congress to act. Pritzker wants to repeal many parts of H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that restricted eligibility for food assistance, created new work requirements for various social service programs and reduced federal Medicaid support.
Pritzker is also calling on Congress to reinstate the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, restore education grants, refund consumers for the increased costs of goods from tariffs, pass comprehensive immigration reform, codify abortion as a federally approved practice and raise the minimum wage.
He didn’t specify how much higher the wages should be than its current $7.25, but Stratton has proposed $25.
“These priorities only scratch the surface of the mountain of things we need to get done in the next few years because Americans don’t just want a repair job — they don’t want a patch job,” Duckworth said. “They need and they deserve a top-to-bottom renovation.”
It’s also not limited to policy. It encourages holding Trump and members of his administration accountable for any allegedly corrupt or illegal acts. Stratton said she believes Democrats can balance pursuing investigations and passing legislation.
“There’s an opportunity to do both,” Stratton said. “We have to hold someone that I believe is the most corrupt president in United States history accountable … but we have to deliver for people, and I think that’s the message today.”
Pritzker’s Illinois agenda
With another term ahead, Pritzker has several challenges on his plate, including some that could surface later this month when lawmakers return to Springfield.
He also appears set to try to balance a growing national focus with problems facing the state. So far since winning reelection on Tuesday with about 60% of the vote, Pritzker has said very little about what his third term will be like. During the campaign, the governor said it will focus a lot on completing many initiatives he’s already started.
“I’m concerned about the people of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “That’s what I’m focused on. That’s what this press conference is about. That’s what this agenda is about.”
It’s not clear what legislation will be taken up during the veto session, which begins Nov. 17. Data center regulations and a deal to keep the Bears in Illinois are high on Pritzker’s wish list.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.