(The Center Square) – The countdown is on for who Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker thinks should be his lieutenant governor because the job of governor “may come” to them.
If Pritzker wins a third term in November 2026, he’d be in office ahead of the 2028 presidential election cycle. Speculation continues that he’ll seek the presidency then. If he were to run for president and win, the lieutenant governor would take over as Illinois governor.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won’t be joining Pritzker for a potential third term. She is seeking the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Dick Durbin, who announced he’s not running again.
At an unrelated event in Chicago Monday, Pritzker was asked about the diversity of the lieutenant governor candidate, whoever it may be, and if it’s a priority.
“Look, the No. 1 qualification is can you do the job as governor because if you’re lieutenant governor, that may come to you,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker hasn’t said he’d run for president, but he hasn’t said he wouldn’t.
After announcing his third gubernatorial bid last week, Pritzker said it was an honor to be in the running for the Democrats’ vice presidential choice in 2024, but he doesn’t think about that much.
“I think I will say that all of that is good for the people of Illinois in this way, having the state of Illinois’ leaders viewed as capable and competent, potentially able to run the entire country,” Pritzker told reporters Thursday in Springfield.
Monday, amid questions of who would be his lieutenant governor running mate, Pritzker was asked why he wouldn’t be governor for the full four years.
“I don’t know, I feel like I’m in decent health, so, my doctor says so,” Pritzker said. “So, I hope that wouldn’t be a reason.”
Pritzker questioned “whatever the odds are” of lieutenant governors stepping in through Illinois’ history.
“If you look back in the history since 1818 when we became a state of lieutenant governors stepping in, I don’t know what those odds are, but it’s happened a few times, not too terribly often,” Pritzker said.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus of Republican state legislators criticized Pritzker’s time in office as a “complete disaster” and said “for the good of the country,” Illinois must not give him a third term.
Pritzker said he understands running for a third term as governor would mean another four years, but didn’t vow to serve out the entire four year term.
Nominating petitions for the March 2026 primary can start being populated and circulated starting Aug. 5.
