WATCH: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker heavily criticizes Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s team this morning for their handling of the Chicago Bears deal and lobbying state government in general. “I know that the mayor has no plan. He has come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the city of Chicago. So that’s problematic. I’d love them to be in the city but we are three years in now and he still has no plan.” “The mayor has shown up every spring at the end of session to pronounce what he would like to see happen. As you know the budget gets put together starting in November…I present that budget to the legislature in February. So that seems like a good time period to come talk to the governor’s office. Then there’s February to May. There’s all that time to come talk to the legislature, which has my budget in hand, or the governor’s office.” “Again, we’ve seen almost nothing out of the mayoral administration here on that subject or really any other. So to show up in May and have a bunch of demands seems like late in the game. And it’s unfortunate that’s happened most years.” Johnson’s chief of external affairs is Kennedy Bartley, who formerly worked as a Chicago Teachers Union-funded organizer for police and prison abolition. The mayor’s former top lobbyist, Sydney Holman, resigned in 2024 after Johnson elevated Bartley to oversee the mayor’s office of intergovernmental affairs.

Today my attorneys with the Public Interest Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on my behalf against Governor JB Pritzker, the SBOE Ex. Dir., and the SBOE for violating the United States Constitution by explicitly elevating race as a primary purpose in drawing legislative districts. Illinois' Voting Rights Act specifically mandates the drawing of districts with racial intent. This is blatantly unconstitutional which SCOTUS has made clear in their recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Read the complaint in this article by the Edgar County Watchdogs. @libsoftiktok @Libs_OfChicago edgarcountywatchdogs.com/202…

"My child should have been safe in any city in this country, and she wasn’t. I blame Chicago, I do. This was not a Loyola problem, this was a Chicago problem—and she would be here. This was preventable. They had several opportunities to cooperate with ICE, and they didn't."

🚨JUST PASSED THE HOUSE🚨 The Illinois House just passed HB910 - the Mega Projects Bill (the bill containing a Chicago Bears Stadium Deal) This bill is one of the most dangerous property tax bills passed in recent history. The Illinois Freedom Caucus voted NO, and here is why: As this bill is written now: - Gives mega projects and billionaire corporations hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax breaks, while shifting the burden to local property owners. The result? Taxing people out of their homes and decimating middle class families. - Brings no comprehensive tax relief to everyday families and small businesses. As the House is bending over backwards to support mega projects, they have no real plan to help working families. - Opens up constitutional concerns about unfair and unequal taxation, potentially resulting in a legal challenge and opening the state up to unknown fiscal liabilities. As Republicans, we are supposed to believe in lowering taxes and protecting taxpayers. That is why it's extremely concerning to see several Republican lawmakers voted YES on this bill. We believe these votes completely undermine the credibility of our colleagues in the Republican caucus to talk about property taxes, the number one issue in Illinois. Let us be clear, we want the Bears to stay in Illinois, and we want other future economic developments in Illinois as well. We are not opposed to the concept of mega projects. However, as has been our position since day 1, bailouts for billion dollar corporations on the backs of working families and taxpayers are completely unacceptable. This process has been shoved down our throats this week because JB Pritzker and the Democrats are desperate to keep the Bears in Illinois, no matter the consequences to property tax payers. The Democrats have made Illinois so economically unviable to do business that large corporations such as the Bears have no choice but to look to other states, like Indiana. The Democrats and JB Pritzker need to find a new plan, and ditch their tired old habits of solving every problem by sticking it to Illinois' taxpayers. They can't afford it anymore.

Gov. Pritzker raised our gas taxes by 157% since 2019. Where did the money go? USDOT studies show our roads didn’t even improve 1%.