Chicago, Illinois: JB Pritzker Wins Third Term as Governor, Defeats Darren Bailey Again, AP Projects

CHICAGO, Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker has won a third term in Illinois. The Associated Press projected on Tuesday night that Pritzker defeated Republican Darren Bailey for the second time, in a rematch of their 2022 race for governor. NBC News also projected Pritzker as the winner.

Polls closed across Illinois at 7 p.m. Central Time, and the governor race was called on election night. A third term is rare in Illinois. No governor had won one since Republican Jim Thompson did so in the 1980s, FOX 32 Chicago reported, and NBC Chicago noted that Pritzker is the first Democrat ever elected to a third term as governor of Illinois. State law sets no term limit on the office.

The result was not a surprise. Illinois has not elected a Republican governor since 2014, and Pritzker held a strong lead in the final public polls. An ActiVote poll put him ahead 58.7 percent to 41.3 percent, and a Public Policy Polling survey put him ahead 54 percent to 34 percent, the Peoria Journal Star reported.

A new partner in Springfield

Pritzker ran this time with a new running mate, Christian Mitchell, who will become the next lieutenant governor of Illinois. Mitchell is a former state legislator who served as a deputy governor and is a reserve officer in the Illinois Air National Guard, according to his campaign biography.

Mitchell replaces Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Pritzker's running mate in 2018 and 2022. Stratton left the ticket to run for the U.S. Senate, and she won the seat held by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin on the same night, according to Associated Press and NBC News projections.

Bailey's second loss

Bailey, a farmer from downstate Xenia who served a term in both the state House and the state Senate, has now lost two races for governor to Pritzker. He lost the first one in 2022 by a 12 point margin. In 2024 he also challenged U.S. Rep. Mike Bost for the congressional seat in the 12th District, which covers much of southern Illinois, and lost that race as well.

The record Pritzker ran on

Pritzker, 61, is a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. He was first elected governor in 2018, when he defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. In office, he and Democratic lawmakers raised the state minimum wage gradually to $15 an hour, passed a $50 billion infrastructure program that also raised the state gas tax, legalized recreational marijuana and wrote abortion rights into state law. The 2021 SAFE-T Act, which ended cash bail in Illinois, remains one of the most debated parts of his record.

What comes next is an open question. Pritzker has been discussed as a possible candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, and he has traveled the country supporting Democrats in other states. He has deflected questions about his own plans so far, FOX 32 Chicago reported. For now, his win keeps one party in full control of state government in Springfield for at least two more years.