Biden’s decision to drop out creates big questions for Chicago convention, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s political future

President Joe Biden’s stunning decision Sunday to drop his reelection bid cast Democrats into unprecedented uncertainty less than a month before they gather in Chicago for their national convention and try to unite around a new nominee to challenge former President Donald Trump.

Biden’s decision also recasts the role of J.B. Pritzker from the convention’s home state governor to a potential candidate. A loyal supporter and surrogate for Biden’s reelection, Pritzker also has a personal interest in the White House and now faces a decision on whether to back the president’s call to support Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination or seek to join her on the ticket as a candidate for vice president.

One state Democratic source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about internal party conversations, said they were told Pritzker, the billionaire entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, would issue a statement about his political future on Monday and that they expected the second-term Illinois governor “would be running for something.”

In a statement, Pritzker did not discuss his own ambitions or mention Biden’s call to back Harris, the nation’s first Black and Asian American vice president, as the party’s new nominee. Instead, he hailed Biden’s service and warned that Trump “threatens the fundamental American ideals we hold dear.”

“I will work every day to ensure that he does not win in November,” Pritzker vowed.

Citing a litany of Biden’s accomplishments, Pritzker said that “perhaps most consequentially, President Biden restored dignity to the Oval Office, bringing the statesmanship and honor that have been the hallmarks of his years of service, back to the White House.”

Former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee and a convention delegate, said his “strong desire” is to support a Harris-Pritzker ticket, though he would back a Pritzker bid for the presidential nomination if the governor made that decision.

“Pritzker’s record in five and a half years as governor is fantastic. You can look at it from a centrist point of view on what’ he’s done with the budget, the credit upgrades,” said Cullerton, who served as Senate president from 2009 to 2020.

“Then there’s his overwhelming support for women’s reproductive rights that he’s invested money in throughout the nation,” he said, referring to Pritzker’s “Think Big America” organization, which has spent millions of dollars supporting abortion rights initiatives around the country. Reproductive rights, Cullerton said, “is what’s going to drive the turnout and that’s why we’re going to win.”

Leading Democrats, who had been preparing to virtually nominate Biden early next month and who had been working on programming to sell the Biden-Harris ticket to the American public during the Chicago convention set for Aug. 19-22, pledged the party would undertake a transparent and orderly process to select a new nominee.

Jaime Harrison, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, called the party’s work in the days to come “unprecedented,” but said “our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”

Details on the nomination process will come “in short order,” Harrison said.

Minyon Moore, the convention chair, insisted the role of the event hadn’t changed despite the political upheaval caused by Biden’s decision.

“Here in Chicago, our mission remains the same. During the convention, we will have an opportunity to show the country and the world who Democrats are and what we stand for,” she said in a statement.

“Over the past year, we have been building the stage — literally and figuratively — for President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats to tell our story to the American people. The historic progress Democrats achieved under the Biden-Harris Administration will still be central to that story, as will the story of what is at stake in this election,” she said.

Like Pritzker, many of the state’s top Democrats issued statements or took to social media to thank Biden for his accomplishments but they also showed that there’s uncertainty within the party of selecting a successor nominee by not mentioning Harris.

Former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served two terms as vice president, acknowledged Democrats “will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead.”

“But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” Obama said in a statement. “I believe that Joe Biden’s vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the state’s senior senator and the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said, “The Democratic Party must unite behind a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump and keep America moving in the right direction. I will do everything in my power to help that effort.”

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Biden’s decision not to seek a second term “ensures that Democrats can focus on the goal that unites each and every one of us: defeating Donald Trump and preventing another four years of his destructive chaos and corruption.”

State Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, who chairs the state Democratic Party, which is heavily influenced by Pritzker, said, “We will mobilize, organize, and vote to ensure that the Democratic ticket prevails in November.”

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the head of the county’s Democratic Party, thanked Biden in a social media post for his “unwavering and selfless commitment and service to our country,” but made no reference to Harris.

Illinois delegate and Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, called on Democrats to “regroup and set their sights on November” with Biden’s support, but when asked, he declined to say whether he supports Harris as the party’s nominee.

But other Democrats, most notably Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, said they were following Biden’s lead and backing his choice of Harris for the nomination.

“It is vital for our entire party to come together and support Vice President Harris,” Johnson wrote in a statement. “Vice President Harris is the visionary leader that we need now to defeat the threat of another Trump presidency.”

Earlier this month, Johnson had proven himself to be one of Biden’s staunchest big-city mayoral cheerleaders, questioning “why there is a debate” over the president’s lackluster debate performance that ultimately led to the president’s decision to bow out of a bid for a second term.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, a convention delegate from Chicago’s West Side, said he believed Harris was in the best position to give Trump “the greatest challenge in such a short time.” He also said he wanted to see Pritzker as her running mate.

“He understands exactly how to be inclusive in government, and he’s also wealthy and he’s from Illinois,” Ford said. “Other than the money, I think that J.B. Pritzker has run Illinois as an inclusive state. He’s been able to do things that’s led the nation. And I think other states look to us as leaders.”

Several members of the state’s Democratic delegation in Congress also backed Harris as Biden’s replacement, including U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García of Chicago, Sean Casten of Downers Grove, Brad Schneider of Deerfield, Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Mike Quigley of Chicago.

State Rep. Theresa Mah, another convention delegate from Chicago, pointed to a statement from the Asian American Caucus, a group of elected officials from different levels of government in the state that she belongs to, and its endorsement of Harris, saying it’s “time to rally together” to “elect our first Black, Asian and woman President!”

Another delegate, former Democratic state Sen. Jacqueline Collins, of Chicago’s South Side, also said she supports Harris to be president since she’s spent the last three and a half years in the executive branch and has the “intellect and the stamina” to bring in younger voters and is “the best advocate and spokesperson” on abortion rights.

“Speaking as not only a delegate but as a Black woman, I feel that she’s deserved the opportunity to take on the Trumpsters,” Collins said. “But I believe that as many know by now that Black women, really, they are the foundation of the Democratic party, and I think it’s going to energize a whole segment of individuals, Democrats who might have felt that they were going to sit it out.”

Illinois Republicans, following the Trump campaign’s lead just days after their national nominating convention in Milwaukee, trained their attention on Harris.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of downstate Hindsboro accused Harris of leading “the Democrats’ cover-up of Joe Biden’s severe cognitive decline. Their donors only forced Biden out once they got ‘caught.’”

Tribune reporters Jake Sheridan, Olivia Olander, Dan Petrella and A.D. Quig contributed.