Escaping Illinois Doesn’t Mean You’ve Escaped Pritzker
April 23, 2025
By John Kass
When we were young raising our family, pinching pennies to pay the mortgage and take care of the children, we’d see news stories about rising violent crime in my hometown of Chicago.
We’d breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that we were no longer in the street gang neighborhoods where murders were commonplace.
Yeah, we paid high property taxes in the suburbs—too high because the Chicago Teachers Union dictated the state’s politics—but at least we thought we were safer.
We thought we’d escaped. That lasted until it didn’t. Now we’re gone.
And I see Illinois residents running as fast as they can for the exits, not only retirees and geezers like me fleeing to Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
But young people with good incomes—the kind a place can’t afford to lose—are fleeing Illinois as if from the plague.
“We couldn’t have planned it this way,” write Ed Dabrowski and John Klingner of wirepoints.org. “But our seven most-read stories in 2024 each captured a different facet of what’s wrong with Illinois.
“Failing schools. Murders. Closing businesses. A bloated, overpaid government sector. Election interference. Population-loss denial. And Chicago’s twisted equity priorities.”
Who would disagree? Every former resident of Illinois knows that failed schools, murders, strangled businesses, bloated insufferable government, election interference, and twisted racist DEI priorities caused them to leave home.
And now, leading the parade of failed states–like some humongous balloon held by ropes and burly teamsters–is the fat man man from Illinois who wants to be president:
If you find the image of Pritzker as a giant parade balloon to be objectionable, then please consider him as a lumberjack in hobnailed boots dancing on a log in a river, always rolling to the left, the left, the left, furiously keeping his feet moving lest he fall in.
“There is no doubt that he is going to run,” the Journal quoted Chicagoan Bill Daley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s commerce secretary and President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. “The real question is whether he runs for re-election first or just runs for president.”
My take? He’s a mean-spirited fool. The billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune was born on third base thinking he hit a triple.
Others are gaining momentum and just might eclipse his ambition. For example, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the princess of the neo-Marxists, comes to mind.
She’s the face of the Democrat Party now, buoyed up by old pal Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as his spiritual great granddaughter.
The news coverage of AOC in the New York Times and other left leaning corporate legacy media outlets is gentle, soothing, bordering on the blatantly hagiographic.
It is all about building interest in her as a personality, rather like those media pieces once orchestrated by David Axelrod about Obama, as he walked barefoot on that beach in Hawaii, his chest glistening with ocean spray as if he were the winged mythological horse Pegasus that leftist journalists so wanted to ride. But no journalists would ride Pritzker even with a saddle and a horse blanket.
OK, maybe some, but no one I’d want to read.
As he progresses in sating his ambition, raising his public profile at various political dinners across the country, as he rails at President Donald Trump stoking hysteria, some journalists might even remember why some in Illinois call him Gov. Toilets. But I don’t think many will remember. It could ruin their appetite.
I leave the link here, because many of you read johnkassnews.com in the mornings, and I would rather not ruin your breakfasts. But he’s got to make a decision: Run for president or remain as governor. For years now, as taxes and crime have increased, as Democrat judges tried to sweep it all under the party rug, Illinois has been ruined by intellectual dishonesty.
Pritzker can’t do both. He can’t covet the throne in Springfield and still sit on the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue even if he plates it in gold.
It just won’t work.
“He can’t do it,” said a friend, “even if he’s 500 pounds, it’s impossible.”
Compounding his problem is the rise of AOC, the new media darling. Pritzker has long feared and has been intimidated by strident progressive women.
Years ago, I had lunch with him because he asked me for advice and he all but cried, his lips trembling, visibly frightened by leftist U.S. Rep. Janice Shakowsky, who Pritzker said was being mean to him. She was mean to him. She’s a witch.
But for all her progressive stridency, protected as she was by the political writers of both Chicago newspapers, Shakowsky is being challenged herself by another left winger who would be welcomed as one of Mao’s cultural revolutionaries.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old hard-left social media influencer, announced Monday morning she will run to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026, setting up a presumed challenge against Evanston resident and longtime Democratic Rep. Schakowsky.
“I say it’s time to drop the excuses and grow a f—ing spine,” Abughazaleh says in a campaign video.
Nice.
And so, once again we are treated to the drama of the Menshevicks being devoured by the Bolsheviks. They’ll save Pritzker to eat last. And Kat Abughazaleh? All she needs is a burlap bag of middle-class heads to offer up to her Jacobin allies for their support. I don’t think the heads will be smiling.
Did they smile in “The Killing Fields?”
No.
Other Democrats toying with a presidential run, including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and billionaire Pritzker, have drawn attention from progressive activists because of their hatred of the Trump administration.
Spewing venomous rhetoric may excite legacy media and distract some Americans, but being victimized by violent crime and squeezed by the government taxman has a way of cutting through the fog. And it concentrates the mind.
The old crutch of federal COVID bailout money is gone and Chicago and Illinois are facing financial ruin. And the AWFLs, those Angry White Female Leftists in the suburbs begin to howl.
The state run Chicago newspapers by and large avoid crime so as to avoid confronting government masters, but at least CWB Chicago remains curious as to what happens to the people.
Despite Illinois pouring billions more into education than prior to the pandemic — $44 billion in 2024 against $35 billion in 2019 — “All the evidence points to that money being wasted,” Paul Vallas, the runner-up for the 2023 Chicago mayoral election wrote in the Chicago Contrarian. “Fewer Illinois students can read or compute proficiently today than could five years ago and overall state test scores are abysmal. Rather than sound the alarm over the bleak findings, Governor J.B. Pritzker is calling Illinois’ dismal results an inspiring success.”
At least we were able to leave Illinois years ago. My accountant congratulated me.
“You’ve given yourself a huge raise,” he said mentioning the difference we’re paying in Indiana compared to the property bill in Chicago’s Western suburbs.
We’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars by moving from quaint Western Springs to a comparable town in Northwest Indiana. I don’t miss Illinois. At least I live in a red state now.
But as the Democrat Party moves farther and farther to the left, as national media ignore the sins of Gov. Toilets, as they embrace AOC as their new show pony and celebrate political violence directed at conservatives, moderates and anything remotely anti-Trump, as the Democrat Party’s vice chairman demands his party get rid of whatever moderates remain, you’ve might ask yourself:
How far can you run?
With this leftist crew, with the national media at their side quashing dissent and censoring dissidents, if they take the House of Representatives in the mid-term election then they’ll have it all. They can finally pack the Supreme Court and engineer Letitia James as Attorney General and make sure Americans have all the Free Speech freedoms of any Londoner who used to have an opinion about how he was being governed.
And then “far” won’t be far enough, will it?
-30-
(Copyright 2025 John Kass)
About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.
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Comments 44
Thanks John, When my late father-in-law, wife and six kids fled Englewood in the 1960s, many of his neighbors did the next parish jump eventually having to jump a number of times for their safety. He was fortunate to be able to one long jump to Oak Lawn. When they discovered two dead bodies at both ends of my alley, I did the long jump to rural Will County for the safety of my special needs daughter. I always wonder what the next jump will be if need be.
With the cast of out of touch pathetic losers the Democrats have on their potential presidential bench, I feel that my “jumping” days are over.
Author
Mr. Jennings thanks for weighing in. But wait…two bodies in Oak Lawn? Was it a couple lost Chop shop boys from Grand Avenue? We followed that same flight path, from 52nd and Peoria Street to Oak Lawn. I was a kid and didn’t know it was an Outfit town until later. the town motto should have told me. Welcome to Oak Lawn–be Prudent, Stay Safe.
John, sorry for the confusion, I was living on the northside of Chicago until three years ago in the relatively “safe” neighborhood of North Park where and when the bodies were found. My in-laws the Magees, Bohnsaks, and Biondos were all from 51st and Peoria.
More and more we are in a fight for Western civilization. Pray that the Republicans can keep control of the House
I joined the Great Illinois Exodus 3 years ago and never looked back. It is amazing to live in a state that is accountable to the taxpayers and to know that my vote actually counts.
Jelly Belly thinks he can buy the White House like he bought the governors job but his money doesn’t stated a chance against the leftist sharks he will be running against.
Pritzker will run for governor and use legalese to say he won’t run for President “unless asked” or something like that. His wife will ask him and he will run.
I have lived in Illinois my entire life. One reason I built Hyde Park Angels in Chicago was that I thought we could change the city. However, it is ultimately failing for more reasons than crime and taxes.
My wife and I started to plan our exit in 2014. In 2007, there was a Chicago Economic Club lunch where two Fortune 500 CEOs talked about the pension crisis. No one lifted a finger and at that lunch there was a lot of pushback from leftists who are CEC members on the “constitutionality” of pensions etc. You knew it was a losing battle from the start.
We tried on Nashville, looked at Indiana, Phoenix, a few places in Florida, Austin, and finally decided on Las Vegas.
Here is some tax math for you. Sales tax in Las Vegas is very high, 8.25%. In Chicago it’s 10.25%. Nevada has 0% income tax. Illinois has a flat tax that the Marxists (not progressives) want to raise or change. I have no cell phone tax, no cloud tax, no lots of other taxes. My property tax in Chicago on a 1100 sq ft walkup apartment (1bd/1ba) was over $8000 per year. My house in Las Vegas, which is 3800 sq ft are the same.
In Nevada, they do fight crime. Same with Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. We have people like me coming here from California, Oregon and Washington. The Dirty Harry Reid Machine is still strong here and the state is gerrymandered for Democrats. But, watch. 2026 will be a pivotal state election in Nevada. If they run the right candidates, it will become the western Florida.
The Democrats treat Governor Flintstone like the fat kid that has all the cool toys. They’re just interested in his money towards the cause, they’d never let him get the nomination. Ditto AOC. If they didn’t let Bernie in because they thought he was too much of a commie, they definitely won’t let the bartender in.
Flintstones’ only pathway to the DP nomination its via GLP-1.
Left in 2014, my only regret is no decent delis in middle Tennessee.
Thanks for keeping the focus on what matters John for those who choose to keep their ears and eyes open.
Your comments about leaving the State of Illinois behind hit home given we relocated to NC eight years ago upon retirement.
We too lived in the Western Suburbs (The Village of Clarendon Hills) and I felt that at least I 294 and DuPage gave us some breathing space. That is no longer the case but your final comment is even more meaningful to me.
I moved from London to Chicago in 1990 for a professional opportunity and just loved Chi town warts and all.
However as I educated myself courtesy of you and your predecessor Mike Royko I began to understand the true meaning of the Combine and all it involved.
Sadly I concluded Illinois was morally and fiscally bankrupt and Gov Toilets(D) has simply reaffirmed that .
Looking back across the Atlantic London, the City I was born and grew up in, is unrecognizable.
The Mayor has failed so miserably and the quality of life for the remaining indigenous population is dismal.
I recognize the value of immigration (given I went through the process my self to become a US citizen many years ago) but in London less than 30% of the population is from there.
I fear the dilution of the culture is past the point of no return.
They lack the bold leadership we are now blessed to have and they will pay the price as we most surely would have done if Kamala Harris had prevailed.
A woke goof of my acquaintance praised AOC’s delicate beauty. I replied, ” as fetching as Mr. Limpet.
https://www.joepacewritehouse.com/post/favorite-fictional-characters-269-mr-limpet
We beat feet 7 years ago to “Good Ole Rocky Top” and have not looked back. Best decision ever. We do have a progressive mayor but the sane governor and statehouse keeps it within reason. Keep up the good work John.
We fled in 2021. The hope was Tennessee, but (even finding a town with 13 golf courses), we couldn’t convince my 89 year old mother to leave her preferred golf buddies in Illinois. So – Wisconsin it was!
It’s lovely up here – but Pritzker has (with the help of George Soros), purchased the last two WI Supreme Court races for his progressive lapdogs. I hear from friends in Missouri that he has attempted funding candidates there as well. Apparently, if he can’t buy the presidency, he’s setting up to buy enough states to get him there anyway.
We fled Illinois in 2020 during the COVID BS and moved to FL. Don’t regret it for one second.
“Despite Illinois pouring billions more into education than prior to the pandemic — $44 billion in 2024 against $35 billion in 2019 — “All the evidence points to that money being wasted…”
Please don’t use the term “wasted”. “Looted” is the word you want.
It will be interesting to watch the 2028 election play out. The dems will need an actual platform and winning policies. And a winning policy has to be what more than 20% of the population wants. Uncontrolled immigration with open borders, sexualizing children, pandering to transvestites, deriding all white people as racists and all black people as oppressed victims who are too incompetent to get a state ID, none of these things will fly. But that’s where they’ve put themselves. They’ve boxed themselves in.
Maybe they can gain traction with the vague and misleading ‘rich don’t pay their fare’ share bit, or the horrific and despicable lie that ending a life threatening pregnancy is the same as abortion and will be made illegal. But even those didn’t help them this time and it likely won’t again.
They have nothing. Why do you think we hear their constant screeching that Trump will seize power and rule in perpetuity as a dictator for life? They’d love to believe it. They have to believe it because ‘we’re not Donald Trump’ is all they have. And in 2028, they won’t even have that.
Here here! We beat a huge cheat in 2024 as well. So I think your correct. It’s the center that has risen, and I hope not just wishful thinking
I agree, except for one little detail. No one – right, left, commie, socialist, capitalist – likes loosing their life’s savings (money is very important to the left wing commies regardless of what they say … just look at their actions). And if President Trump persists with his inane tariff policy, persists in listening to Navarro instead of the Market and America’s greatest free market economist – the late great iconic Milton Friedman – he will have opened the door to the likes of Flintstone, AOC, Bernie and the rest of the marxist Jacobins in 2026 and beyond.
Congratulations, John, on your eloquence and residence.
Not to brag, but I was near the front of the parade out of The City of Big Pension Debt— 1978. (Wisconsin seemed safe then.) Machine Democrats had already begun gobbling up taxpayer dollars like they were Italian beef. In this century, Pritzker Democrats seem determined to gobble up every pie and pot roast in the state. So of course they’re also concerned with . . . toilets. Yech.
How about a presidential ticket with AOC and Pritzker? Beauty and The Beast. Phony and The Feast. Ignoramus and Enormous.
Good beautiful morning John Kass. Thank you for this column and your expanded, literally, of JB’s girth and baseball comparison…yes, I used it in quotes…some don’t do that, but right is right as to quoting an author such as yourself. My mind goes dizzy just thinking of him running to third base…and laughing.
Thank you John for my hump day laugh.
Yes, the Ds have a swing that is always swinging left and like the football team always going left, the opposing team is well aware of what comes next and I hope the GOP is not blind to that fact.
God bless you John Kass and your whole family.
Tom
I fled, from Streeterville (the newest playground for underaged thug wannabes) to coastal South Carolina. Never been this happy.
Pritzker? Nobody, at least on the democrat’s side, is going to vote for a fat, rich white guy. Those days are over.
I imagine that if Pritzker really wanted to swim with the new far-left, he could just declare himself a tranny like his cousin. The left would embrace him.
Quite the sad state we are in right now. Both literally and figuratively.
Kasso says ” He’s a mean-spirited fool. The billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune was born on third base thinking he hit a triple.”
Actually, JB was born in the skybox and thought he was a major leaguer.
Governor Toilet Maximus will try to spread public-funded grants liberally through 2028 to butter his nomination prospects.
Thank God DOGE will be pinching those resources off in the interim.
“My take? He’s a mean-spirited fool. The billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune was born on third base thinking he hit a triple.” These words sum it up perfectly.
I’ve said since Pritzker was elected Governor that this was just the first step. I think the family fancies themselves the next Kennedys. And now they will try to buy one of their own into the Office of the President. I can’t think of a single thing J.B. has done to show leadership and expertise for running our state, let along our country. He’s nothing more than dandy, never working an honest job.
We’re planning to take the summer to scout out where to move. It’s time. And your point is well-taken. Escaping Pritzker or the hard drumming of the left will be only a pipedream if the promises made by the White House are not accomplished in time for the voters who were swayed in 2024 to feel the results.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there that take Gov. Money Bags as a serious presidential candidate. The fool is being used by the amoral Democrats to get their hands on his money bags. His oversized ego is letting the Democrats use him. Maybe his true ambition is to remove the White House toilets.
The Democrat Party is going to schism. As their lunatic fringe, aided by the media, ascends to head that party, it is going to split. Just like the Episcopal church as its once liberal policies became more and more extreme, it’s members split that church in half. The Democrats are losing that retired auto worker in Sandusky Ohio who votes for them because his parents, grandparents and neighbors did. This guy doesn’t give a shit about LBGDEFG rights. Doesn’t support Hamas and wants the illegals out of the country. Democrats are losing this guy. The people he voted for know their time is up soon since they can’t continue to sell this agenda to him. They’re going to leave that party and form another party, and rebrand themselves as the ” Blue Collar Democrats “.
The shame of this is that the Republicans are taking their foot off of the throats of the Democrats right now rather than to continue hammering them on the very things that won them this election. The Republicans need to get that retired guy and target weak democrats right now and start moving to take those seats. When a boxer has a guy on the ropes he keeps punching him until he knocks him out. The Republicans should be doing this right now but they aren’t. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite them in the ass at Midterms. It probably will.
Yianni,
We’re trapped here for awhile longer until grandkids get older and go off to college! Then we might be able to move, Ahhhh…mothers and their sons! Chicago and Illinois won’t ever come back. The damage the dem/socialists have wreaked is too deep and widespread, and will continue to infest every facet of life here. Illegals are sucking up available funds for free medical care and schooling, as the CTU dumbs downs the kids in school, and no one is trying to stop their indoctrinations. Paul Vallas was our last hope, but apparently too many voters stayed home, and now we see the results – Mayor Pannix, and Dumbo Gov – tweedle dumb, and tweedle dee! At least we’re able to escape to visit our daughter and kids in Florida who had the good sense to leave NY years ago! And now, a Greek couple was robbed at gunpoint in front of their home, not far from us at the Glen in Glenview! Guess it’s time to start packing again (not my suitcase)…just in case. But for now, we’re stuck….pray for us “late leavers!”
Moved to the northwoods of Wisconsin in 2021, due to Jabba the Pritzker and the one party rule of Illinoise. Much better all around. It’s a purple state, and sometimes there is actually some dialogue.
This is what happens when there is one party rule and no competition. The Republicans have an opportunity to follow Trump’s lead and grow a spine. Stop being afraid and take a strong stance on the issues! Or are you still afraid and comfortable being in second place all the time? What’s the worst that could happen? You take a stand and lose again?
I still harbor a lot of anger and disappointment at what has happened to my home city and state. My parents left the Brainerd neighborhood for Oak Lawn and my formative years were spent living in a very nice, safe place with very good schools. I’m very thankful for that.
I went into the city after high school; the Marquette Park neighborhood for a few years, then to the North Side Rogers Park and West Rogers Park (David Orr as aldercreature for awhile, who oversaw the turning of a great neighborhood into a dangerous one in the name of wokeness before woke was a thing, and Jan Schakowsky as congressional rep. 😱)
I was a hard core believer in the urban promise and one of Chicago’s biggest cheerleaders. I watched with pride as many neighborhoods around me gentrified, and not just with soulless, boxy and overpriced condos, but neighborhoods of the ma/pa 2-3 flats, small businesses, and independent theatres that saw a second lease on life. The skyline was filled with construction cranes and corporate HQs lined up to relocated to the city. Chicago’s reputation both domestically and on the world stage was polished to a beautiful shine and all seemed heading in the right direction,
It all came crashing down so fast when COVID and George Floyd hit, and the mayor and governor sat back and fiddled while Chicago burned. We left Chicago for good in 2020 and see that things are just getting worse there. It infuriates me, and I can’t believe that his royal corpulence thinks he can throw some money around and become president. I truly hope the Illinois and Chicago electorate has woken up and will send the mayor and governor off to retirement.
Illinois has a republican governor and Chicago has a republican mayor. Crime is down and we have a balanced budget. Michigan Avenue and Water Tower Place have been restored to days gone by. The Chicago Tribune is an inch an half in thickness and is being tossed out of car windows to most city and suburban homes…and then I woke up and realized I had just had the best dream ever!
Beautifully conjured, Liane! Chicago is now better dreamed about than lived in.
I still occasionally have a dream based on happy (actual) experiences of taking a Chicago and North Western train from my suburban home to the Loop at age 13 – 14 to visit the coin shops. I really did that — alone. Recall buying a nice Buffalo Nickel at Berk’s for maybe $5.
The Machine ran over such safe kid adventure, didn’t it? Democrats still pose as sponsors of “The Dream.” Now they create only nightmares.
Superb analysis.
What will ballet star Rahm run for?
Well, moderate Gretchen Whitmer won’t run. Not anymore. What was she thinking with that photo?
The equation may have changed this morning when BIG DICK Durbin announced he’ll be taking his stolen millions before DOGE catches him and won’t run for re-election. Could Gov. Fatboy decide to take that “f—– golden opportunity” to get onto the national stage and leave Californicated Gov. Greaseball and Always Outrageously Clueless to run — and lose– for president and veep? Then Pricker would have the field all to himself in 2032, when he’ll be only 67 and weigh just north of 500 lbs. He could run as the second coming of Taft.
Now that Durban has now announced his “retirement” how much ya wanna bet he quietly packs his stuff and moves to Florida. I mean who would wanna live in the
High State of Illinois. High crime, high taxes, high unemployment…
Yeah. But NO state income tax for Illinois retirees. So here’s what the Durbin will do: meet criteria for legal ILLINOIS residency (I think six months and one day; plus a residency address) and spend the rest of the time in Florida.
“Governor Toilets”?
Come on, John…
You nailed it years ago. He is and always will be “Commodius Maximus”!
Pritzker scared of Jan Schakowsky? Another suburban corporate man scared of an AWFL.
I left Chicago after 35 years recently. Not to a red state really, more purple (but with famously blue parts) — Washington. (High-ish property taxes, but not as bad as Chicago, and high sales tax, but not as bad as Chicago. And no income tax.) But I have to say I’m struck with how friendly and efficient government employees are. Getting a drivers license was fun, license plates super easy, and even the local garbage dump people are super helpful and friendly. I just never had interaction with government employees who were even courteous in Illinois. Midwest-schmidwest, the people out here are nicer!
Left Illinois to Florida in 2017. Low property taxes and reasonable sales taxes. Biggest challenge has been insurance, but the state legislature has now fixed that problem and they’re coming down. Gov. Desantis is pushing for elimination of property taxes due to sone counties hacking up rates; calls them “rent you pay to the county to live on your own land”.
Pritzker won’t have a chance in 2028 – nationally unelectable. I agree with the comments that Dems are likely to split as they don’t have a strong leader and doubt they will find one by 2027 to pull all the disparate pieces together. They are losing the blue collar union vote and Hispanics big time.