{"id":20244,"date":"2026-03-19T09:01:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/pritzker-helped-a-black-woman-become-senator-some-black-leaders-are-still-mad-at-him\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:01:42","slug":"pritzker-helped-a-black-woman-become-senator-some-black-leaders-are-still-mad-at-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/pritzker-helped-a-black-woman-become-senator-some-black-leaders-are-still-mad-at-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Pritzker helped a Black woman become senator. Some Black leaders are still mad at him."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Congressional Black Caucus members, after a stinging loss in the Illinois Democratic Senate primary, are training their ire on Gov. JB Pritzker \u2014 and saying it\u2019s on him to rehabilitate the relationship.<\/p>\n

After Pritzker\u2019s outsized financial support for Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton helped lift her to victory, lawmakers vented frustrations that his money unfairly tilted the race in her favor<\/a> and away from their candidate, Rep. Robin Kelly, a CBC member who finished a distant third. And as Pritzker eyes a 2028 presidential bid, some members, cognizant that the path to winning the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination will run through the caucus, signaled they won\u2019t forget that he crossed them this round.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has to justify what he did,\u201d said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). \u201cI’m sure at some point if he decides to run, he’ll have to come with that justification. As to whether or not it has merit or not, remains to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pritzker\u2019s money helped put Stratton on the path to becoming just the sixth Black senator in U.S. history. But by boxing out Kelly, he frayed his relationship with the caucus, which holds significant sway over which candidates break through with Black voters \u2014 a large and powerful voting bloc the billionaire governor will need if he chooses to run for the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind, the Democratic candidate for president that prevails has to go through [the CBC],\u201d said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). \u201cThe CBC is very strategic and so if there is an issue \u2026 we will lay out our framework for what it will take\u201d to get our endorsement, she added.<\/p>\n

Many top CBC officials are in no rush to make the first move to mend fences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t need to reach out to the governor,\u201d said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, adding that the group is focused on midterm races and delivering House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries the speaker’s gavel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOthers are going to have to reach out to us,\u201d he said of Pritzker. \u201cThose conversations happen when those conversations happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pritzker\u2019s political arm issued a statement in response saying he was \u201cproud\u201d to support Stratton, Illinois\u2019 first Black lieutenant governor: \u201cWith only six black women having served in the U.S. Senate throughout its history, Gov. Pritzker supported his partner in governance because he\u2019s worked side by side with her for almost a decade and knows she will deliver for the people of Illinois,\u201d Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker\u2019s spokesperson, said.<\/p>\n

His team did not address questions about CBC members\u2019 concerns, but did point to Rep. Jim Clyburn, the powerful South Carolina Democrat, saying ahead of the election that Pritzker was \u201cfree to support\u201d anyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clyburn on Wednesday told Blue Light News he would \u201cexpect\u201d for Pritzker to support his No. 2 and that he was not focused on 2028.<\/p>\n

Still, lawmakers\u2019 veiled threats lay bare the difficulties Pritzker could face beyond Tuesday\u2019s primary. And they underscore the duality the CBC is navigating as high-profile defeats of their members in Illinois and Texas<\/a> raise questions about their political influence \u2014 even as they celebrate Stratton\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

In interviews with more than a dozen CBC members on Wednesday, they made clear their irritation is not with Stratton, who many said will be welcomed into the caucus if she wins as expected in November. Their indignation rests solely with Pritzker, who they accused of playing kingmaker by pouring millions of dollars<\/a> into propping up Stratton.<\/p>\n

Tensions flared between the powerful legislative voting bloc and the billionaire governor in early March. CBC Chair Yvette Clarke lashed out at Pritzker<\/a>, saying she was \u201cbeyond frustrated\u201d with the governor for \u201ctipping the scales\u201d a nod to his funneling of $5 million from his super PAC to help catapult Stratton into contention with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who for much of the primary was leading in the polls and started with a massive cash advantage.<\/p>\n

Many CBC members, and Clarke specifically, took Pritzker’s presence in the race as a snub to Kelly, who had a long-standing beef with Pritzker after he worked to oust her as chair of the Illinois Democratic Party in 2022. While both Kelly and Pritzker were said to have moved beyond it, the Senate campaign reopened old wounds.<\/p>\n

Clarke issued a statement \u2014 some 12 hours after the Illinois Senate primary was called \u2014 to congratulate Stratton on her victory<\/a>, calling it \u201ca significant moment for Illinois and the nation that calls for unity\u201d before pivoting to praise Kelly.<\/p>\n

The CBC chair on Wednesday said she and Pritzker had not spoken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sure there’ll be a moment where we’ll have a conversation,\u201d Clarke said. When asked if she felt like she needed to initiate a conversation with the governor, she responded tersely. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the body in U.S. history, endorsed Stratton in the race. She took issue with CBC members’ intense focus on the governor\u2019s role in the process instead of the historic outcome, and said the group seemed more focused on backing its own than expanding Black representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo weigh in on this race was just backwards,\u201d she told Blue Light News. \u201c[Kelly] was a member of the caucus and so it’s understandable on that level. But at the same time, Juliana deserved at least something from that group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many current CBC members refrained from attacking Pritzker directly, however \u2014 another sign of the complex politics at play. Congressional Democrats want Pritzker\u2019s billions to help bankroll their bid to retake control of the House and make Jeffries, the minority leader and New York Democrat, the first Black speaker. They\u2019ve already been working him behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve already reached out to Governor Pritzker,\u201d said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), a former CBC chair. \u201cI’ve talked to him this morning, in fact, and I’ll talk to him in the weeks and months to come, because I have one objective: to win this House, to help win the Senate, and to make sure we end the chaos that’s coming out of this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others took pains to separate their evaluation of Pritzker\u2019s role in propelling Stratton to victory from any campaign he may run in 2028, suggesting they were willing to reset the relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will still have to show your bona fides, and you still will have to make your case as to why the CBC and Black people should take you into consideration. So we have reset it,\u201d Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) said. \u201cGood for him, for her, but that has no bearing on the 2028 race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shia Kapos contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congressional Black Caucus members, after a stinging loss in the Illinois Democratic Senate primary, are training their ire on Gov. JB Pritzker \u2014 and saying it\u2019s on him to rehabilitate the relationship. After Pritzker\u2019s outsized financial support for Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton helped lift her to victory, lawmakers vented frustrations that his money unfairly tilted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}