Could Pritzker Become Kamala Harris’ Running Mate? Governor Says He’s Focused on Illinois But VP Nomination Would Be ‘Hard to Resist’

Amanda Vinicky | July 25, 2024, 3:13 pm

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is pictured in a July 2023 file photo. (Jerry Nowicki / Capitol News Illinois)

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is acting demure about what level of vetting — if any — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president is doing as she seeks a running mate.

According to a Wednesday report in the Chicago Sun-Times, Pritzker is on a short list of candidates Harris is researching.

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“Whatever happens in this process that I understand is going on, my job is to make sure that we win in November — so I’m going to work hard to do that,” Pritzker said in response to reporters’ questions at a Thursday news conference about security at the Democratic National Convention.

In a back-and-forth with journalists, the Democratic governor appeared to try to dance around the subject of whether he’s up for the vice president role.

“I have said directly to the vice president that I’m going to do everything and anything that is necessary to make sure that we beat Donld Trump and J.D. Vance,” Pritzker said. “And to make sure that we’re communicating across the country the message of hope that comes from a Harris candidacy and her victory in November.”

The Harris campaign did not call him Wednesday, he said.

Pritzker said he regularly has conversations with the campaign. He has served as a designated surrogate for the Biden/Harris ticket and traveled to other states on their behalf.

“I don’t know anybody who is involved in Democratic politics that isn’t talking to the Harris campaign … if you have the opportunity to,” Pritzker said. “Excited about the next 100 days.”

But the governor said he will not reveal private conversations.

Asked whether he’d be interested in running for vice president, Pritzker said he’s been honored to twice be elected governor of Illinois.

“I really enjoy the work,” Pritzker said. “Sometimes very challenging, but also the opportunity to serve the 13 million people of our state. There’s not much that would pull me away from that job.”

He told CNN Wednesday that it would be “hard to resist” if Harris asked him to run for vice president.

Pritzker, who has poured some of his personal wealth into political campaigns in other states and who leads a new national PAC that supports reproductive rights, has had apparent national ambitions and has been cited by pundits and the actor George Clooney as a presidential or vice-presidential possibility.

Sunday’s announcement that President Joe Biden was abandoning his reelection campaign following intensifying concerns about his age and aptitude forced a change in the political calculus.

Pritzker could benefit Harris as a billionaire who relishes attacking Trump, but as the governor of a state that Harris is likely to win, Pritzker wouldn’t necessarily help capture voters in battleground states like other Democrats rumored to be on Harris’ radar.