Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, at the center of 2028 election speculation, asked North Carolina Democrats whether they were ready to fight back against “MAGA Republicans” on Saturday, July 26. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spoke like a presidential candidate in waiting in his keynote address at North Carolina Democrats’ Unity Dinner fundraiser Saturday evening, outlining his vision for a post-Trump America.
“When we emerge from this, and we will emerge from this, our Democratic agenda must be bold and our idea fearless. We will have no time to waste: America needs us” Pritzker said. “We must deliver on an agenda centered on working families who truly make America great.”
In a 25-minute speech, Pritzker issued sharp condemnations of President Donald Trump and his cabinet and outlined his vision for how Democrats can regain voters’ trust on kitchen table issues. He also sketched out an agenda for the next Democratic administration that includes rebuilding social services, bringing down cost of living for working and middle class Americans, and developing a cohesive policy approach to artificial intelligence.
“Our democracy is on the line, and Americans are wondering, who is going to fight for them?” Pritzker asked. “North Carolina Democrats, I have a question for you: Are you ready to fight?”
Pritzker’s remarks followed speeches by former Governor Roy Cooper and state Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls, at the center of the state party’s 2026 election hopes. Democratic Party officials and supporters also heard from North Carolina House Democratic Leader Robert Reives and Senate Democratic Leader Syndey Batch.
‘I’ve been to this movie before’
Pritzker, a Duke University graduate who served as legislative aide to Democratic Senator Terry Sanford, took on a pugilistic demeanor as he skewered Trump and denounced his administration in his remarks.
“It’s wrong to snatch a person off the streets of America and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law,” Pritzker said. “They’re literally arresting U.S. citizens in broad daylight, and then green card holders, people who have never committed any crime in their lives and who dream someday of becoming American citizens — they’re being swept up and deported. So are babies and children and teenagers.”
Launching into an explanation of habeas corpus, the legal right to due process of law for those detained, Pritzker quoted Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, underscoring their commitment to that principle and their abhorrence for tyrants who would violate it.
“Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton — they were talking about Donald Trump,” Pritzker said. “Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the most effective campaign message in history.”
In charting a course for new Democratic leadership, Pritzker evoked his own experience taking over the state former Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican — an analogy that would seem to pitch Pritzker as the antidote to the Trump era.
Anderson Clayton and Roy Cooper watch JB Pritzker’s keynote address. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
“There’s a way out of this mess — I know, because I’ve been to this movie before when I was elected governor in 2018 to replace a very destructive Republican chief executive. He defunded the government, slashed health care for the poor and for people with disabilities, racked up massive deficits, and plunged our state’s finances to worst in the nation,” he said. “Does that sound familiar? That’s what happens when you elected a chief executive who’s hell-bent on shaking things up without any idea how to fix what he’s broken.”
Pritzker, the billionaire scion of the family that owns the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, has served as Illinois governor since 2019. While he announced in June he would seek a third term in 2026, his cross-country speaking engagements have fueled expectations that he will seek the presidency in 2028.
Besides North Carolina, Pritzker headlined a New Hampshire Democratic Party fundraiser in April and gatherings of Wisconsin, Virginia, and Iowa Democrats in 2024. He was also a high-profile surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, including appearance in Arizona and Nevada.
He urged Democrats to “say what we mean and mean what we say” in his speech Saturday, while jettisoning “poll-tested language and decades of stale decorum.” At times, his blunt condemnations of Trump and his associates were reminiscent of the president’s own barbs.
“Autistic kids don’t deserve to be stigmatized and targeted by a weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the back seat of his car,” Pritzker said. “Our great soldiers don’t deserve to be told by a washed-up FOX TV commentator who drank too much and committed sexual assault before being appointed Defense Secretary that they can’t serve this country simply because they’re Black, or gay, or a woman.”
He also took aim at Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem, saying she “likes to play dress-up as ICE Barbie,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi “who protects the President from scrutiny about his close friendship with a pedophile,” referencing Jeffrey Epstein.
“No more self-dealing by the President of the United States. No more gifts from foreign nations. No more unvetted Russian assets in key government positions,” Pritzker said. “It’s disgusting and it’s got to change. If it sounds like I’m becoming contemptuous of MAGA Republicans, it’s because I am contemptuous of MAGA Republicans.”
‘You didn’t give up the fight’
While Pritzker’s speech centered heavily on national politics, North Carolina leaders largely focused their remarks on judicial elections, storm recovery, and veto overrides.
Delivering a video address in absentia — away attending the National Governors Association conference in Colorado — Governor Josh Stein praised the state party for its successes in 2024, including in the elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Superintendent, and Secretary of State. And he thanked supporters for backing Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs amid an “outrageous Republican attempt to steal her seat.”
He condemned the Trump administration for causing “unprecedented chaos” and “an economic roller coaster” while eroding due process and freedom of speech. And he criticized Republicans in the General Assembly for putting forward bills that “make our state less safe and less strong.” So far, Stein has issued 14 vetoes, none of which have been overridden, though state Republicans aim to do so in the coming week.
Rep. Dante Pittman (D-Wilson) speaks at the Democratic Party Unity Dinner on July 26, 2025. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Rep. Dante Pittman (D-Wilson), the only House Democrat to vote in favor of a sweeping anti-trans bill the Governor blocked, appeared to signal he would stand with Stein’s veto of it at the dinner. Without Democratic assistance, Republicans cannot override Stein’s veto after losing their supermajority in the lower chamber of the General Assembly in the 2024 election.
“When I was sitting at my chair and I saw our governor come up on the screen, my resolve was hardened,” Pittman said before delivering the Salute to the Flag of North Carolina. “When it comes to the veto overrides, we’ve got your back.”
Cooper, Stein’s predecessor, also condemned Republicans in the state legislature, though most of his speech centered on dysfunction in Washington as he alluded to his upcoming Senate bid. “Here in Raleigh, the Republican legislature has left town,” he said. “No budget, no badly needed funding for healthcare, no teacher pay raise. Just passing bills to increase your electric bill and stoking the culture war fires. It’s not right.”
Reives, the House Democratic Leader who represents Chatham County, urged attendees to accept the nature of a big tent party and tolerate disagreements with one another.
“There are going to be people that you don’t like in this party. There are going to be some people running for office that you’re not that crazy about,” Reives said. “I got a guy running in District 54 in Chatham County, I don’t know if I agree with him all the time. But you know what I do know? I need him so we can get our state back.”
Associate Justice Anita Earls said she would never forget the attempts to overturn the results of the 2024 Supreme Court race. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Gearing up for her the Supreme Court race in 2026, Earls said she would never forget that four of her Republican colleagues on the bench ruled in favor of Judge Jefferson Griffin’s effort to throw out overseas and military ballots that did not include voter ID “even though those voters fully complied with the law as it existed at the time they voted.”
“I also will never forget that Justice Riggs and the North Carolina Democratic Party stood up for the voting rights of all North Carolinians when they argued that every vote should count,” Earls said. “We are the party willing to win fair and square. You stood up for our rights. You didn’t give up the fight.”
Batch, the Senate Democratic Leader, called on audience members to continue fighting and organizing and not give up hope. She attacked Republicans for shifting funds from public education to private schools, rolling back reproductive rights, and putting Medicaid expansion at risk while cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in the state.
“There has never been a time in the history of this country that it has been safer and easier to do the right thing,” Batch said. “Nobody’s unleashing fire hoses at voter drives. Nobody’s hanging strange fruit from trees because we marched. The steepest price we’ll pay is sore calves from knocking doors, a raspy voice from speaking the truth, or a bruised ego because someone told you to sit down.”
‘Fired up and ready to go’
After the speeches, Democrats at the dinner said they felt optimistic and invigorated ahead of the next wave of electoral battles in the state.
“They were terrific, I’d like to say fired up and ready to go,” said Brenda Pollard, president of Durham County Democratic Women. “They were right on point, and that’s where we need to be, and we’re going to fight.”
Pollard said she was especially pleased with Cooper’s remark hinting at his upcoming Senate announcement. “He’s still standing, so I mean, that was music to my ears. I’m ready and the Governor will make a wonderful U.S. Senator,” she said.
Pritzker’s remarks also drew praise from those in attendance, including state party leadership. Clayton said she was pleased with “what she saw tonight from every person up on that stage” in terms of a willingness to be direct with voters and those in power. She said she would hope to see those traits in future presidential candidates.
“I’d like to see somebody who’s willing to stand up there and go toe-to-toe with a Republican and not afraid to talk to them exactly how they talk to us right now,” Clayton said. “You’re willing to get down in the nitty-gritty, but you’re also willing to speak truth to power.”
Of his blunt style, Batch said “people are exhausted with appearing that Democrats roll over,” something she’s tried to address in her own interactions with Republicans. “I’m showing up like he does every single day with the fight. I’m not going to start a fight, but I sure as hell won’t walk away from one.”
“I am so forever grateful for the amount of energy that you have all given to us,” Clayton said, closing out the dinner. “And I want to take this energy that you have now and give it back to your neighbors, your friends, your community members. Talk to folks, knock on doors with us, make the calls, tell you story — help us write the next chapter of North Carolina.”