Pritzker and Emanuel Are Long Shot Presidential Candidates — If Only Local Media Would Report It

Every election can be counted on for a sideshow or two

Anyone paying attention to local media — an exercise in frustration for the fair-minded — will notice the glowing, fan-fiction-style coverage of Governor JB Pritzker’s and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s nascent presidential campaigns.

Shia Kapos' gossipy daily political newsletter, Illinois Playbook is the worst, and almost as bad is the work of NBC 5 Chicago's Mary Ann Ahern — who was once a respected political journalist — and her docile coverage of Pritzker.

Equally bad, regarding Pritzker, is the left-leaning Capitol News Illinois, despite its declared mission of “producing unbiased reporting.”

As of this writing, neither Chicagoan has declared a presidential run. Pritzker is currently campaigning for a third term as governor. Although both men are coy about their presidential aspirations, as with all politicians, they should be judged by their actions, not their words.

Earlier this year, Emanuel completed a three-day bicycle tour of hilly New Hampshire, an early Democratic primary state. He visited South Carolina in April — the state set to hold the first Democratic primary in 2028 — and he is scheduled to return there this month.

Pritzker visited the Palmetto State during the Columbus Day weekend.

Yes, both are running for the White House.

Can either man win?

The odds are certainly against Pritzker and Emanuel, which is why whenever Kapos and her intellectual minions write about either man’s unofficial presidential bids, the word “long shot” needs to be used, ahem, liberally. In presidential polls, Pritzker usually registers around three percent, which should be quite troubling for him, because he’s been posturing for 2028 since Kamala Harris gave her concession speech.

Emanuel doesn’t even register in polls. He does slightly better on the online betting market Kalshi, but like Pritzker, Emanuel is currently under three percent there.

To be fair, Democrats, more so than Republicans, are receptive to dark horse candidates, such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Carter was extraordinarily lucky, his standing as a born-again Christian positioned him well for a post-Watergate presidential candidacy, and Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon probably doomed his chances to win a full presidential term. Clinton possessed a rakish charm and a clear ability to connect to voters — "I feel your pain”— a popular phrase of his made even more poignant as he, like a child, stuck his bottom lip out as he said it.

Pritzker and Emanuel have none of Clinton’s charm — even though Rahm once worked for him — and none of Carter’s piousness.

Which means if either do run for president, they’ll have to fall back on their careers in public office to court support.

And that is why their dark horse unofficial candidacies are actually lame pony runs.

Which might explain the adoring fan fiction coverage from the local media.

Rahm Emanuel

The best that can be said of Emanuel’s eight years as Mayor of Chicago is of the four occupants of the 5th floor of City Hall since 1989, three of them were worse than him.

That message doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker.

First the good: Rahm utilized his contacts as a member of Congress and Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff to bring businesses to Chicago. Most notably McDonald’s headquarters, after decades in Oak Brook, returned to the city.

On the other hand, Emanuel also closed underperforming and poorly attended schools, but at a painful long-term cost. Had he acquired that Clinton charisma from his old boss, it probably would have counted as a win, but Rahm’s in-your-face school closings emboldened and radicalized the Chicago Teachers Union, which resulted in the emergence of the CORE Caucus. CORE has shown no flexibility since then on school closings, and in general, on charter schools. The pieces were in place for the election in 2023 of one of their own as mayor, CTU organizer Brandon Johnson.

Chicago currently has dozens of under-enrolled schools; 13 high schools are 80 percent empty.

Rahm also burdened Chicagoans with the largest property tax in the city’s history.

Laquan McDonald

And now the worst: 12 years ago this month, Laquan McDonald was killed in a police shooting — 16 shots were fired at the 17-year-old. Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke was later convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting.

A video of the Laquan McDonald shooting was not released until more than a year after the incident — and seven months after Rahm Emanuel won re-election in the April 2015 runoff. Emanuel’s denials of a cover-up should be viewed skeptically: His administration bitterly fought release of the footage, which occurred only after a court order. The McDonald shooting and the administration’s efforts to suppress the video arguably contributed to the calamitous election of Kim Foxx as Cook County State’s Attorney in 2016, as well as to Lori Lightfoot’s election as mayor in 2019.

This is not a record to base a viable presidential campaign on.

To be fair, although he dodged the question, Brandon Pope of Fox Chicago did ask Emanuel about Laquan McDonald last week.

JB Pritzker

When Pritzker was sworn in as governor in 2019, Illinois had the worst credit rating of any state — a distinction it had held since 2012. On social media, Pritzker regularly boasts about the 12 credit upgrades Illinois has received since his first inauguration. Yet as of this writing, Illinois still has the worst credit rating among the states.

The barking seals of the local media, when celebrating these upgrades, almost never mention that Illinois is still in last place. Likewise, media never acknowledges Pritzker’s $8.2 billion in tax increases have played a role in the credit upgrades.  

All of this comes at a painful cost: Illinois’ annual tax revenue since 2019 has soared from $35 billion to $53 billion, an increase that exceeds the inflation rate. There have been at least 57 tax and fee hikes since Pritzker took office. For over a decade, Illinois’ population has been declining or stagnant. The evidence is anecdotal, but there is a strong belief among many people watching Illinois that the best, bright, and yes, richest are leaving the Prairie State. Billionaire Ken Griffin is one of those among the best and brightest who left.

That flatlining population and those prominent departures probably explain why credit scoring agencies aren’t confident about the long-term financial health of Illinois as the state tries to whittle down its still massive unfunded public pension obligations.

Despite his braggadocio, Pritzker is hardly a wise steward of taxpayer dollars. Last year, he signed the unfunded Chicago police and firefighter pension “sweetener” bill into law. With his signature, those already strained funds went from roughly 24 percent funded to under 18 percent funded — adding an estimated $11.1 billion in new liabilities by 2055 with no dedicated revenue sources.

SAFE-T Act

The 700-page SAFE-T Act eliminated cash bail in Illinois. That change, along with decisions by liberal judges, has allowed many suspects with extensive criminal records to be released pending trial, after which they have been accused of additional violent offenses. Among the most notorious cases are of Lawrence Reed, who has more than 70 prior arrests, is charged with setting a woman on fire on a CTA Blue Line train, and Jose G. Medina, a Venezuelan who entered the country illegally and had an active warrant for missing court dates on a shoplifting case, is charged with murdering a Loyola University student who was walking with friends on the lakefront.

As with Emanuel and his City Hall coverup of the Laquan McDonald shooting, if somehow Pritzker begins gaining traction in national polls, another Democratic contender will make the tragic failures allowed by the SAFE-T Act a potent campaign issue.

On the rare occasions when the media summons the courage to ask Governor Pritzker about the SAFE-T Act, he defends it and points out that crime is now down. That is true, but the drop is part of a broader national trend — one that can be partly explained by President Donald Trump securing the southern border and keeping out illegal immigrants such as Jose Medina. Closer to home, Chicago experiencing lower crime is almost entirely due to Eileen O’Neill Burke’s election as State’s Attorney.

Here's the million-dollar question Pritzker should be asked by an honest journalist: Do you favor a national no-cash bail law?

Gerrymandering

Even less often than they report on problems associated with the SAFE-T Act, local media ignores the reason Governor Pritzker has an easy time getting favored legislation onto his desk: Illinois’ state legislative maps are gerrymandered to produce Democratic supermajorities, even though Pritzker, when he was a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, promised to veto such maps. Illinois’ Congressional districts are gerrymandered too. 

But the president — and Congress — cannot create congressional maps.

And every president, except for William Henry Harrison, who died after serving only 30 days in office, has complained about an uncooperative Congress. Future presidents, unless they “pull a Harrison,” won’t be any different.

All presidents, even Trump, sometimes must reach across the aisle on an important congressional vote. As governor, Pritzker doesn’t have to reach out — and he never has. JB has undemocratically compartmentalized his Republican opposition into an ineffective sliver. Remember, Pritzker on almost a daily basis says Trump is undermining democracy. Outside of university towns, the governor is overwhelmingly unpopular downstate. Successful presidents build broad bases; Pritzker has no experience in that. 

A final look at their personalities

Once again, neither Emanuel nor Pritzker have strong records to run on.

Even Rahm has hinted that he has an unpleasant demeanor. “I wake up some mornings hating me too,” is a quote often attributed to him, but that statement is likely apocryphal. If Emanuel didn’t say it, then perhaps he should have.

Rahm comes across as that hateful creep in accounting who nitpicks every expense report you give him.

As for Pritzker, he’s reminiscent of a sleazy and overbearing closer you encounter at a vacation home time share presentation. His cringe factor is overpowering — even when watching him on a tiny smartphone screen.

They’re not presidential material. They’re the longest of long shots. 

Some political pundits are speculating that both men are auditioning for the vice-presidential slot on the Democratic ticket, but Pritzker and Emanuel aren’t running mate material either. The first rule of any vice-presidential selection is “Do no harm” — something Kamala Harris clearly forgot when she chose Tim Walz.

The coverage of the fledgling Pritzker and Emanuel campaigns is yet another reason not to trust the media.