Governor Pritzker Has Poured Nearly $40 Million Into Midterm Races Across the Country, and Democrats Are Watching 2028
Illinois' billionaire governor has spread nearly $40 million across Democratic candidates, state parties and super PACs in more than a dozen states — spending that is shaping Tuesday's midterms and, party figures say, could matter again in 2028.
Gov. JB Pritzker has directed at least $40 million since 2025 to Democratic candidates, state parties and allied causes across more than a dozen states, according to the Chicago Tribune's reporting as republished this weekend — money flowing into races for Congress, the Senate, governor and other offices, and into ballot measures on abortion rights and redistricting, two days before the midterm elections.
The largest pieces, as reported, include $15 million Pritzker put into his own political action committee, Ready for the Fight, which is airing ads in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Ohio, and a share of a $20 million final-weeks effort to help Democrats push deeper into Republican-leaning territory in the fight for the House, CNN reported. His biggest reported single contributions include $1.5 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party and $1.2 million to Gina Hinojosa's campaign for governor of Texas, plus $1 million apiece to the Democratic Governors Association, Senate Majority PAC, the Ohio Democratic Party, House Majority PAC and Project Battleground.
The spending also reaches the states that vote first in a Democratic presidential primary season, and it has repaired relationships inside the party, CNN reported — after Pritzker spent $10 million backing his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, over Rep. Robin Kelly in the Illinois Senate primary, he met Congressional Black Caucus members and promised to help grow their ranks. Separately, Reuters has reported that Pritzker put $65 million of his own money into his own campaign for reelection, which he is expected to win on Tuesday.
Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune with an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion, is widely viewed as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, though he has not announced a bid, and he dismisses the idea that the donations signal 2028 ambitions, insisting his focus is solely on winning the current election, CNN reported.
