Pritzker Defends Rauner Attack Ad, Opens Local Campaign Office

J.B. Pritzker opened a campaign office Thursday in Downtown Bloomington where he stood by his recent TV ad attacking Gov. Bruce Rauner.

The ad paints Rauner as one of few governors across the country who did not speak out against President Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. Only Rauner did address the separation of families, calling it “heartbreaking” and not moral.

Pritzker said the ad is factual.

“Taking so long to speak out about the National Guard and on other issues about Donald Trump,” Pritzker said. “This is a guy who is standing up for immoral policies, or at least not speaking out quickly enough against them.”

Credit Mary Cullen / WGLT

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WGLT

There have been calls for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate to pull the ad that also claims Rauner is profiting from a Chicago immigration detention center.

The governor’s campaign has responded to the ad, saying Rauner left the company in 2012, and that the ad “intentionally misrepresents the facts.”

“The fact of the matter is that he is an investor, owns a piece of a company, that is profiting off of the separation of families," Pritzker said. "That’s all true. So I don’t know why we’d need to pull it. It’s a factual ad.”  

Pritzker fired up the crowd by restating his platform values. He said Rauner does not put the needs of Illinoisans first.

“I think you want a governor who wakes up every day thinking about how to raise people's standards of living. How to make sure that you’ve got workplace safety standards that we can all rely upon,” Pritzker said. “And I tell people all across the state how important it is that we have labor unions fighting for working families. Everybody benefits from the work that labor unions do to maintain those standards.”

Rauner was under fire recently after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, barring labor unions from collecting dues from non-union members. Many say this puts the future of unions at risk.

Pritzker stressed his platform values that he calls “kitchen table issues” of standing up for working families, affordable education, and higher wages.

“I believe that this campaign is about standing up for people all across the state that have been forgotten and left out. Standing up and saying, ‘No more.’”

Pritzker’s Bloomington office will be open through the general election on Nov. 6.

Video: Watch Pritzker's remarks at his Bloomington office on Thursday.

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