Biden gets strong backing from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson

President Joe Biden received vigorous endorsements from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday as the president works to tamp down an ongoing chorus of calls that he step aside following a dismal debate performance against Donald Trump almost two weeks ago.

Pritzker, making his first public comments since joining other Democratic governors in a meeting with Biden at the White House last week, dismissed the notion that Biden is not capable of serving another four-year term.

“The president did a great job of answering questions throughout that meeting. Listen, Joe Biden is our nominee. I am for Joe Biden. I’ve been campaigning for Joe Biden. I think you’ve seen I’ve got dates scheduled to go to Indiana, to Ohio, for Joe Biden, so Joe Biden is going to be our nominee,” Pritzker said following an event on the West Side.

But while at least one other high-profile Democratic governor has vowed not to run for president should Biden have a change of heart and drop out, Pritzker declined to take such a pledge.

“I’m not engaging in any hypotheticals. You can see that I’m all in for Joe Biden. Joe Biden is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. I’m going to go out there and wholeheartedly campaign for him,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker’s comments came as Johnson and other Democratic mayors were set to join a call with Biden Tuesday evening, in the embattled president’s latest bid to shore up allies amid blistering criticism within his own party following a debate in which the 81-year-old president appeared disjointed and listless.

Speaking to the Tribune earlier Tuesday, Johnson said he fully supports Biden.

“There is only one choice. That is President Joe Biden,” Johnson said, noting Biden is the only person to defeat Trump in a general election. Asked if he worries about Biden’s age, Johnson instead talked about his fears of what would happen if Trump returned to the White House.

“You know what my biggest concern is? It’s that you have someone who is trying to relitigate the Civil War,” Johnson said. “If there’s anything to be afraid of right now, it’s afraid of the fact that you have individuals that are organizing the return of the Confederacy. We have a president who is committed to democracy.”

Pritzker and Johnson will be high-profile hosts of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month. Among scenarios put forth by Democrats panicked by Biden’s debate performance has been the possibility of a historic brokered convention, something Pritzker insisted won’t occur.

“I don’t expect that to happen,” Pritzker said. “We’re going to have an orderly convention.”

Johnson’s political spokesman Christian Perry confirmed the mayor will attend the briefing with Biden Tuesday night but did not have further details. At least one other big-city mayor, Eric Adams of New York City, will also take part, CBS New York reported.

Pritzker was among about 20 Democratic governors who met with Biden virtually and in person at the White House on July 3. After that meeting, Pritzker’s campaign released only a short statement saying only the roughly 90-minute meeting “was candid and (Pritzker) appreciated hearing directly from the president.”

As the billionaire governor of the nation’s sixth-largest state in the nation, Pritzker has been discussed nationally as a possible replacement for Biden should the president step aside. He’s raised his national profile significantly in recent years, serving as a Biden surrogate and backing abortion rights initiatives through his national organization, Think Big America.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is also on the deep bench of potential Democratic presidential candidates, but she recently shut down the idea that she might become a presidential candidate this year if Biden were to step down.

Biden, while admitting he did poorly in the debate, has been adamant about staying in the race. Pritzker on Tuesday acknowledged that he wants Biden “to go out there and answer all the questions” people have over his capabilities to serve.

Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley is among small group of national Democrats to publicly call for Biden to step aside. But others, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have continued to throw support behind Biden, Pritzker noted.

“It’s not unreasonable for people to have differing opinions about all of this,” Pritzker said in response to Quigley’s comments. “But I know Mike Quigley. I know he does not want Donald Trump to become president of the United States,”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sought last week’s meeting between Biden and Democratic governors after Biden’s stumbling debate showing. Unlike Michigan’s Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also has been mentioned as a potential Biden replacement, Pritzker did not offer a strong statement in support of the president immediately after the meeting.

Pritzker said on Tuesday that supportive comments from Walz, who’s the head of the Democratic Governors Association, and two other governors following the meeting represented the entire group.

“Some weren’t able to be at the White House and some of us had to go catch a plane,” Pritzker said, alluding to his absence at that news conference. “The truth is that it was, I think, a robust discussion, and I just wanted to be accurate about how I recorded what happened in that meeting.”

Johnson has proven to be one of Biden’s staunchest defenders among Democratic mayors despite mounting frustration among his inner circle and political allies over the federal government’s lack of support for the migrant humanitarian crisis that has cost the city more than $400 million since 2022.

Still, Chicago’s status as the host city for the Democratic National Convention has placed the mayor in a tough spot when it comes to speaking out more forcefully on how he feels Biden’s immigration policy missteps have overburdened the city.

The day after the Biden-Trump debate in Atlanta, Johnson declined to answer a question from a reporter on the president’s performance. Shortly afterward, he issued a statement saying “I look forward to welcoming Democrats to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention to officially nominate President Biden and Vice President Harris for four more years in the White House.”

The same level of enthusiasm has not been seen from other mayors dealing with the migrant crisis. Adams in New York City has repeatedly and sharply criticized Biden for what he casts as abandoning the city and forcing leaders to make tough budgetary choices over an issue that should be handled by the federal government.

However, following the president’s lackluster debate showing Adams did not go as far as to call on Biden to step down. While confirming his attendance Tuesday at the Democratic mayors’ call with Biden, Adams stressed the party must “follow the process” and allow the president to make the decision.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has avoided making direct public statements in support of or against Biden remaining the nominee, though the two have a close relationship — Bass was once floated as a name on Biden’s vice presidential shortlist and was endorsed during her mayoral election campaign by both the president and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The day after the debate, Bass praised the Biden-Harris administration for their help in addressing homelessness in Los Angeles, while not mentioning the intraparty alarm over Biden’s performance.

There is also the dynamic of Johnson’s and Biden’s politics being on opposite ends of the Democratic Party spectrum. Johnson was the biggest city mayor to back a cease-fire in the Gaza war, and some of his top surrogates have condemned Biden and even the prospect of celebrating his nomination at the DNC in Chicago. The news outlet Politico reported concerns in May that the mayor of the host city may sympathize more with the protesters than the incumbent president.

But despite some ideological differences, Johnson has repeatedly praised Biden.

The mayor has carefully avoided criticizing the president when discussing the city’s need for funding to house and care for the over 44,500 migrants who have come to Chicago in the last two years, though he has been quick to point fingers at the U.S. Congress and Trump for opposing pro-immigration reform at the border.

While some immigration advocates decried an executive order issued by Biden in June to block asylum-seekers at the southern border, Johnson instead echoed the president’s calls for sweeping immigration reform.

He quickly restated his support for Biden’s candidacy the day after the first presidential debate, highlighting Trump’s “disastrous term in office and his disastrous agenda for the country” but not addressing the concerns over Biden’s demeanor the previous night.

“The stakes of this election for Chicago and the nation are simply too high for anyone to sit on the sidelines,” Johnson said. “The contrast in character was on full display: President Biden showed himself again to be a decent man who cares about working families and this country, while Trump is an unhinged con man who only cares about himself and uses dangerous rhetoric to pit people against each other.”