'We're not a cult like the MAGA Republicans': What Pritzker said on CNN about Biden, Trump

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said "his word is his bond" when it comes to supporting President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Pritzker told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night that Biden will be the Democratic nominee "unless he decides otherwise" in wake of the president's debate performance which left some Democratic politicians and donors contemplating if Biden should bow out of the race.

"First of all, I think there is a healthy conversation going on within the Democratic Party, we're not a cult like the MAGA Republicans, we tolerate dissent and we think it's good for democracy to have this conversation," Pritzker said on CNN. "For me anyway, my word is my bond. I honor my commitments. Joe Biden is going to be our nominee unless he decides otherwise."

'Sense of shock': Democrats melt down over Joe Biden's debate disaster

A group of Democratic governors, including Pritzker, met on a call on Monday. Pritzker said none of the governors on the call said Biden should leave the race but rather the overall takeaway was that Biden needs to communicate with the nation better and more frequently after the unsettling debate performance.

"It was all a fairly positive conversation, people expressing themselves and of course talking about what they'd like to hear from the president, then what they think the strategy ought to be going forward and then I think everybody wanted to be able to express that to the president directly and that's why Gov. (Tim) Walz, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, asked for the opportunity and the president was readily willingly to do it," Pritzker said.

Biden is scheduled to meet with those governors on Wednesday. Collins pressed Pritzker to declare more solidly if he still supports Biden as the nominee after the debate performance, which amplified concerns about Biden's age and fitness to serve another four years.

Pritzker not only doubled down on his support for Biden but went to the Democratic playbook in his response. He said regardless of Biden's debate performance, his opponent, Donald Trump, was a "convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and he's a congenital liar."

"Again, he's (Biden) our nominee. So, unless he makes a different decision, I am on board and I am supporting the president, again, he's been good for the country," Pritzker said. "Remember what the contrast is. This is a despotic, narcissist on the other side in Donald Trump and the Supreme Court just gave him even more power potentially with immunity from prosecution from things I think we all know he is capable of doing."

Pritzker said he has not spoken directly to Biden since the debate but has spoken to members of the president's campaign.

"I think it's important for the president to talk to, not only the leaders of the Democratic Party across the board but generally, the nation," Pritzker said. "So, I'd like to hear more from him, and I think that he intends to do more of that."

More: How much did debate hurt Biden's re-election bid? New poll offers insight.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Amid debate fallout, Illinois governor supports Biden in CNN interview