MANCHESTER, N.H. — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker took a stage commanded by past presidential hopefuls Sunday and implored Democrats to forcefully resist the Trump administration while panning leaders in his own party for having acted too timid for too long.
As Pritzker denounced President Donald Trump in a speech to New Hampshire Democrats, he also accused Democratic politicians of embracing a “culture of incrementalism” that has led the party to be run over by Republicans, who are implementing an agenda that is counter to the left’s value system.
“It’s time to fight, everywhere, all at once,” Pritzker said. “Let’s start with something that should be easy to say: It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law.”
Cheers rang out in the audience at that comment at the annual McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club state party dinner, which brought in the largest crowd New Hampshire Democrats have seen since 2020, organizers said — more than 800 people. The presidential race is three years away, but animated Democrats who jumped to their feet several times Sunday signaled a hunger to hear about challenging the Trump White House.
It was the first event in a historic early presidential primary state to host a potential 2028 presidential candidate — and in Pritzker, it featured a politician who has thrown down an early marker on how best to challenge Trump and the GOP, as different Democrats seek out different lanes in the early days before the next national election.
In an interview, Pritzker batted away the notion that he’s considering running for president, saying he has yet to decide whether he will seek a third term as governor in Illinois.
But he has long been seen as a member of the short list of 2028 contenders, and as a billionaire who has self-funded his political campaigns in the past, he is well-positioned to launch a campaign. The state party dinner in New Hampshire is a traditional stop for potential presidential candidates in the years before a campaign.
He has also been an early and consistent voice of opposition to Trump. In his state of the state address this year, Pritzker shifted to issue a warning about the administration’s actions, saying, “If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.”
New Hampshire has long been the first-in-the-nation primary state in Democratic presidential contests. That changed under President Joe Biden in 2024, but Democratic leaders have said they would most likely revamp the calendar again before 2028.
Pritzker told the Democrats that he had never called for protests in the past but that he was now calling for “mass protests,” “mobilization” and “disruption.”
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“Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.” Pritzker said.
In the interview, Pritzker went even further, saying that if Democrats reclaim a majority in the House, they should investigate the actions of Trump administration officials, including who accessed sensitive taxpayer data.
“We’re going to hold people responsible. They can’t just get away with what they’re doing right now,” Pritzker said. “Anybody that’s breaking the law, anybody that’s breaching the Constitution as a regular matter of the way they run their offices, those people all should be investigated if they are breaking the law. ... Think about the privacy of Social Security and Medicaid records and all of that DOGE went in and just breached, as if that’s OK. How about IRS records, right? I mean, all of that.”
Back in his speech, Pritzker said Democrats should blame their losses in November on a “lack of guts and gumption,” not on the party’s defense of Black people, transgender kids and immigrants.
“Voters didn’t turn out for Democrats last November not because they don’t want us to fight for our values, but because they think we don’t want to fight for our values,” he said.
He also took a shot at other Democrats' "flocking to podcasts," without singling anyone out. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently launched his own podcast, which has generated some controversy inside the party.
"What I find ironic about the current conversation surrounding our party," Pritzker said, "is that the voices flocking to podcasts and cable news shows to admonish fellow Democrats for not caring enough about the struggles of working families are the same ones who, when it comes to relieving the struggles of real people, have been timid, not bold."
