J.B. Pritzker is the Democratic governor of Illinois. He is about as powerful in Illinois as the elder Mayor Daley once was, and opposes Mayor Brandon Johnson's tax proposals for Chicago. In October 2025 he clashed with Donald Trump over the federalisation of Illinois National Guard troops, insisting state police were keeping order near Chicago's immigration-enforcement facilities, and sued alongside the city to block the deployment.
In 2025 Pritzker signed Illinois's assisted-dying law despite lobbying from Pope Leo XIV, who unsuccessfully urged him to exercise his veto.
New York now leads the world's great cities in the number of people around whom you shouldn't make a sudden move.