Pritzker, Rauner out early to kick off Nov. campaigns
Wednesday morning, hours after clinching the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, J. B. Pritzker chatted about money, race and taking on incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner.
He shook hands outside the 95th Street stop on the CTA Red Line and briefly chatted with reporters.
Rauner, meanwhile, was in St. Charles on Wednesday morning to start his general election campaign after beating back a surprisingly strong challenge from state Rep. Jeanne Ives, whose main line of attack had been not that Rauner had failed working families but had failed conservatives.
Rauner visited CartonCraft, which makes folding containers.
When asked about concern by voters that Pritzker bought his votes by spending $ 70 million of his own money on his campaign, as well as the criticism by some observers that the race had hinged on cash instead of issues, Pritzker offered a half answer.
“You know, Illinois is worth it. We need to rescue the state from this governor who is such a complete failure,” he said.
“He’s done nothing for working families for three years plus. No health care, no jobs, no education funding. Bruce Rauner has got to go,” he said.
Asked if he plans to pour another $ 70 million into his campaign war chest to beat Rauner in the general election in November, Pritzker sidestepped.
“You know, we’re going to work hard in the general election, and as you know, we invested in infrastructure to make sure we’ve got the kind of campaign that will be able to win in a general election and not just a primary,” he said.
The campaign had 18 offices around the state, he noted.
“We tallied it up last night, we knocked on 600,000 doors during the primary,” he said.
“And we made 3 million phone calls to voters,” he said.
The operation will “far outpace whatever the Republicans are able to do,” he said.
He was asked about regaining the trust of the African- American community following an FBI wiretap of an unfiltered conversation Pritzker had about racial politics with former governor Rod Blagojevich. Pritzker responded:
“When I am wrong, I say I’m wrong. And I’ve taken responsibility for that. But I also want you to know I think the voters showed last night that they’ve looked past the political attacks and instead looked at my real record of standing up for and standing with African- American families.”