GOP candidate for governor slams Pritzker for dereliction and radicalism
What would Ted Dabrowski as Illinois governor mean for the Chicago area? We put the questions below to the Republican candidate and he unloaded on Governor JB Pritzker for betraying Chicago and the rest of the state. Read on for his scorching thoughts on Pritzker, who Ted says is on the wrong side of every issue.
Dabrowski, 62, had a 16-year career in banking after earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Wharton School. Dabrowski then turned to public service, earning a Master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and joined the Illinois Policy Institute. From 2017 to 2025 he was president of Wirepoints, a nonprofit research and commentary organization focused on Illinois state and local government.
Q. First, Ted, what are Chicago area voters telling you are their biggest concerns?
A. Same as across the state — high taxes, the SAFE-T Act and sanctuary for illegal migrants. Around Chicago, the personal stories about property taxes are emotional and heart wrenching. So many people simply don’t know what to do and are looking at losing their homes or small businesses.
On the SAFE-T Act, voters everywhere are amazingly knowledgeable. The law allows too many violent offenders back on the streets. I criticized it endlessly while it was just a bill, and I was right.
Voters are smart about the migrant issues, too. Yes, they are uncomfortable with some of the tactics ICE has used. However, they know where the root of the problem is, which is state and city sanctuary laws and lax immigration enforcement that have drawn 550,000 illegal immigrants into the state. They also know the state prioritizes migrants when it to government benefits — often putting citizens at the back of the line. “Why am I getting taxed out of my home while billions go to illegals?” people ask me. Darn good question.
Q. Give us your general take on where Chicago stands and where it’s headed
A. Good grief, where should I start? Let’s take its financial crisis first. I know a financial train wreck when I see one because I had a very successful career in banking, mostly in Mexico City and Warsaw, which had plenty of problems. Chicago is truly a mess. Any banker can see that in a minute, yet Governor Pritzker continues to ignore the coming crash. Massive budget problems worsen every year, patched over by one-time fixes that are now falling short. Chicago’s pension problem is off the charts, the worst in the nation at barely 20 percent funded. It’s headed towards pay-go status, which will be impossibly costly. Big taxpayers — the golden geese — see that more clearly than anybody and are moving out to escape the coming chaos.
On education, the only good news is that the public has finally realized that our schools are failing and that teachers’ unions, especially the Chicago Teachers Union, are to blame. I take pride in the big role I played awakening the public to that.
Pritzker, Brandon Johnson and most all of Illinois Democratic leadership continue their incestuous relationship with government unions. It’s all about pure political power, and our kids are having their futures crippled by it.
Q. But you are running for governor, and most of that is controlled by local governments. Plus, you’ll be boxed in by a Democratic majority in Springfield
A. Hold on there. You’re only partly right. There’s much that a governor can fix. I know exactly how all this works from 15 years talking to the players and studying the state and city closely.
Let’s take schools, for example, and the property taxes for them.
There’s no way Chicago should be allowed by the state to spend $33,000 per student, which is absurd by any standard across the world. I won’t put up with that, and I will have plenty of leverage to force real savings to lower property taxes. For starters: close Chicago’s empty, failing schools. Over a third of CPS school are half-empty or worse.
On day one, I will pound reform into failing schools. Governors appoint many key board members and all agency heads, and agencies control the setting of rules and standards. I will turn the Illinois State Board of Education on its head. No more ditching schools to go to political protests. No more woke propaganda that replaced teaching the basics. That includes policies like Illinois’ “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” — a gross politicization of education enacted under Governor Pritzker.
I will use veto power to reject the irresponsible acts of the legislature. They impose countless unfunded mandates on Chicago and other municipalities. Those include pension benefits. It’s hard to believe but Pritzker has recently signed off on pension increases for two of Chicago’s most-insolvent retirement funds. That won’t happen when I am governor.
Yes, the Democrats currently have supermajorities in the General Assembly, but I will get the necessary votes from enough lawmakers to sustain my vetoes. Times have changed. They’re not all unreasonable. I’ve worked with some of them. They’re not all extremists like Pritzker and Johnson. They know full well how bad things are and that they are on the unpopular side of countless big issues. Think about it: Voter ID, school choice, property taxes, men in women’s sports, better schools, identity politics, illegal immigration. The list goes on and on where the radicals in charge are at odds with the public. And my election would sound a five-alarm fire warning to them. It would send a powerful signal that they’d be better off working with me and aligning with what voters want.
One last thing on that: Pritzker and Johnson have thrown their people under the bus with their endless insults directed at Trump — “Nazi,” “fascist,” “authoritarian” and other inflammatory rhetoric. Trump predictably retaliated, and Governor Pritzker is now blaming his budget problems on the president. Well, Pritzker got what he asked for. He used Illinois taxpayers as pawns for his presidential campaign. I will work constructively with Trump to get him to do what’s best for Chicago and Illinois. That will be my sole test for how to deal with Trump — what’s best for Illinois — and federal cooperation will help with our budget problems and more.
Imagine, for example, if Pritzker had worked sensibly with Trump on immigration by ending sanctuary laws to get rid of criminal illegal aliens, eliminating the need for ICE to roam the streets. The criminals would be removed from across our state and all the strife and violence would have been avoided.
Q. Do you really think you could win over Chicago and Cook County voters?
A. To win statewide, a Republican only needs to win about 35 percent at most of Cook County and, and you bet I can do that. I know full well how Democratic the Chicago area is, but most of its voters aren’t extremists like Pritzker and Johnson. Pritzker was dead wrong to say that Illinois is proud to be the most progressive state in the nation. Even in Chicago, most people want no such thing. It’s those extremists and their policies who voters are fed up with. All they need is a viable alternative to vote for.
Q. Can’t the other Republican candidates do the same as you for Chicagoland if they win?
A. No. Darren Bailey is a good man, but let’s be honest about why he looks and feels like a fish out of water when he goes north of I-80. It’s culture shock for both him and for voters here. It’s for that reason that he cannot raise campaign money and would lose big to Pritzker again. Even if he won, he’d be utterly ineffective on Chicago-related issues. In contrast, my expertise — and my support — isn’t limited to downstate.
Then there’s Rick Heidner. His only campaign message is that has earned a fortune in business so he should be governor. Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. Listen to any issue he is asked about and it’s obvious he knows almost nothing about government and policy. Not to mention, he’s just another transactional player who gives money to Democrats like Brandon Johnson, Kim Foxx, and Toni Preckwinkle.
Q. Anything else you would like to add?
A. Yeah. I can’t wait for the general election fight against Governor Pritzker. I will pin him to the wall with the facts. I will expose him and his failed policies at long last — and I guarantee the public won’t like what they see.
