WASHINGTON — Gov. J.B. Pritzker is camping out in Des Moines on Monday, as Iowa Republicans hold the first-in-the nation vote to pick their 2024 presidential nominee.
As a top surrogate for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, Pritzker is part of a planned Democratic media blitz to elbow into Iowa GOP caucus coverage that otherwise would be just about the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump and, according to polls, the race for second place between Trump’s ex-United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In the afternoon, two top Democrats from states bordering Iowa, Pritzker and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith will be joined by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg for a news conference in Des Moines.
Katzenberg and Pritzker are part of Biden’s re-election National Advisory Board. The presser is billed by the Biden team as a reminder “to voters what’s at stake this November as Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans launch an all-out assault on Americans’ freedoms.”
The Iowa caucuses start at 7 p.m. Monday. In the evening, Pritzker will be at the main caucus media center in Des Moines to be available to do interviews and guest appearances on shows running live coverage.
Pritzker previewed a central messaging point during an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” where he brushed aside a question about Biden’s low poll numbers. “The truth of the matter is, this [election] is going to be won among independents, and independents understand that, as Democrats do, that it’s the Republicans that are trying to take your freedoms away.”
Trump and the Illinois loyalty oath
Pritzker was asked about Dave McKinney’s WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times scoop about Trump not voluntarily signing the state’s loyalty oath as part of his package of ballot-access paperwork submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections, despite doing so in 2016 and 2020.
“Isn’t that telling,” Pritzker said, commenting for the first time, aside from posts on Facebook and X.
“That says all you need to know about Donald Trump” and what Biden has been saying about Trump not really believing in democracy.
“The reality is his not signing that pledge is just another indicator of Donald Trump not wanting to abide by the Constitution of the United States of America, and we just can’t afford to have a president who is acting in unconstitutional fashion and in his own self-interest,” he said.
Pritzker as Biden surrogate
Pritzker is comfortable with his role as a top Biden surrogate, but it’s coming with some particular challenges that draw upon Pritker’s diplomatic skills.
At present, my reporting shows that the Pritzker team is very frustrated with the lack of action from the Biden White House when it comes to providing more assistance to help the state and the city of Chicago grapple with the crushing burden of taking care of thousands of migrants bused and flown to Chicago by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
From the city and state perspective this is a national humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed with an enormous amount of federal help. Pritzker talks to top Biden White House officials all the time, but it hasn’t resulted in meaningful help.
When first lady Jill Biden was in Chicago last week to highlight her work on women’s health and menopause research at the University of Illinois Chicago, there was a sense from some members of team Pritzker that it would have been nice if she also had on her agenda doing something to help the Chicago area deal with the migrant crisis.
Chicago hosts the Democratic convention in August, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be nominated to second terms. There is no reason to believe Abbott will stop sending migrants to Chicago if they are still streaming over the border. And having reporters in Chicago for the convention writing about how the migrant crisis is overwhelming the city and state is not what the Democrats want.
Convention preview this week
More than 400 journalists are coming to Chicago this week to huddle with the officials planning the convention to get their first close-up look Thursday at the plans for providing work space at the United Center and the McCormick Place complex.
It’s also a chance for the convention officials to be “selling” Chicago. There’s a Wednesday night welcome reception for the journalists, representing scores of media outlets based in the U.S. and beyond with representatives from the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Agence France-Presse, Nikkei and Al Jazeera expected.
