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Though the road map Pritzker assembled is called “Fighting for Illinois: The Day One Agenda,” it has federal policy and funding recommendations that could pertain to all states. The governor began preparing the agenda in the summer, when he directed state agencies and deputy governors to go through the Trump administration’s cuts to federal programs and grants under Trump that had the greatest impact on Illinois residents and to specify how the 120th Congress could reverse the damage.
The results bring the total to 45 Illinois counties that have approved non-binding secession referendums since 2020, according to a county-by-county review of election results and local officials. For now, the growing number of referendum approvals serves as a political message to state leaders that frustration outside the Chicago area is not going away.
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McHenry County, the reddest of the collar counties surrounding Chicago, is riding the blue wave that swept through the political world this week. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker became the first Democratic governor to carry the county since 1852, according to election result data.
The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice are challenging Illinois State Board of Education guidance that allows parents to decline student mental health screenings rather than requiring written parental consent before participation. The Department of Education gave ISBE until Nov. 13 to revise its guidance.
Party leaders are celebrating not just the county voting for JB Pritzker, but also the highest percentage ever of Democrats on the McHenry County Board, plus two Democrats winning countywide offices.
Behind Democrats’ jubilation that they’ve retaken control of Congress is the sobering reality that the Illinois delegation will have the least seniority in recent memory in an institution where seniority means a lot.
The latest Illinois Report Card shows improved student achievement numbers, but it is not clear if billions of additional taxpayer dollars helped fuel the academic gains. “With a number of folks pointing out that we are not seeing the same kind of gains when we look at another assessment, which is the National Assessment of Education Progress, there have been questions about whether the scores are getting higher in a way that's really not reflective of students' underlying skills,” said Elaine Allensworth, of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.
Several lawmakers had concerns about House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch's handling of sexual harassment allegations among members and his heavy-handed management of the caucus. In September, Welch pulled his caucus out of the Democratic Party of Illinois’ coordinated campaign in a dispute over financial contributions. This divorce effectively cut Welch’s members off from the state party’s steep postage discount on campaign mailings.
The withdrawal of support for Welch comes in light of how he handled the sexual harassment allegations against former State Rep. Harry Benton, who resigned from his seat in July.
Americans for Prosperity Illinois Deputy State Director Brian Costin noted that Gov. JB Pritzker defeated Republican Darren Bailey by 36 points in Lake County, but the sales tax referendum lost 57 percent to 43 percent. “I think it's a warning for Lake County and some of these other counties as well that these referendums are not something that's palatable or shouldn't be taken for granted, that the people are just going to automatically side with tax hikes,” Costin said.
Businesses with fewer than 20 employees added more than 19,000 jobs in the state in 2024, accounting for 89 percent of Illinois’ new jobs. That makes the cost of starting and growing a business an issue in both employment and entrepreneurship.
Retired Police Chief Tom Weitzel: "The movement to eliminate or radically dismantle traditional policing is not imaginary. The Democratic Socialists of America have an Abolition Working Group that openly advances this agenda. ... You cannot claim to support public safety while supporting an agenda that removes the very institutions communities depend on when someone is being attacked, a child is missing, a business is being robbed, or a violent offender is threatening a neighborhood."
Pritzker, who bankrolled many Democrats around the country as he ran for re-election in Illinois, put out a list of 200 policy proposals today.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of Democratic AGs in asserting that if states are not constitutionally allowed to force religious schools to set aside their religious beliefs and principles on gender and sexuality, then states may instead choose to shut down the programs altogether or limit the funding only to be spent at public schools.
Jim Dey: "The failure of University of Illinois financial managers to match even average investment benchmark returns for the UI’s $3.3 billion endowment fund has cost the university an estimated $771 million over the past 10 years, according to a recent study. ... Effectively, the UI hired investment managers who failed to beat market averages."
"We have a healthcare system that we need to break down to the studs and rebuild – one where we put doctors and patients ahead of insurance companies and profits. We have an electoral system that needs real campaign finance reform – because no special interest should be able to simply buy the regulations they prefer. We have a growing group of tech. Robber. Barons, who need to be told that money does not give them the right to exist outside the rules we all live by. And we need to rescue the American dream for the next generation."
The Ammons were indicted by a federal grand jury in July. State Rep. Carol Ammons was accused of using her position in the state legislature to get state grants for organizations she and her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, profited from. They were charged with wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Both have denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.
While results are still being counted, early indicators show counties like Winnebago, McHenry, Sangamon, Jackson and Alexander counties switching their votes to Pritzker since 2022. Meanwhile, counties like Whiteside appeared to flip from Pritzker to Bailey.
“There is one question I have gotten a lot in the last few months – what’s next?” Pritzker said. “The answer is simple. I’m going to ask you to continue to hope – and to wrap your hope, in courage. We climbed one mountain tonight. But we are sitting at the base of another.”
The state hasn’t seen a Republican as secretary of state in nearly 30 years, as attorney general in more than 20 years or as comptroller for at least a decade. Tuesday night ensured at least four more years were tacked onto those counts.
The nearly 39 percent pay increase drew criticism from the Illinois Policy Institute. "Teachers look for support in their classrooms and representation at the bargaining table," said Mailee Smith, vice president of policy and litigation at the Illinois Policy Institute. "A nearly 39 percent raise for a leader does not help with either of those, especially when the average Illinois teacher only makes a fraction of Davis Gates’ total combined annual salary of $445,000."
The state’s victim notification system known as VINE alerts crime victims when someone is released from jail, transferred or experiences a change in custody status. A clause in that $6M contract allows Appriss to share jail records with third parties. Privacy advocates warn this creates a pathway for information collected by Illinois jails to enter commercial databases used by ICE to identify and locate people for immigration enforcement.
"Rather than advancing school choice by easing the way out of the public schools, it expands opportunities for helping students stay there. Governors who hesitate to join should consider the benefits for those children. It’s becoming harder to find a good reason to turn it down."
State Rep. John Cabello introduced House Bill 4165 in October 2025, seeking to prohibit Illinois courts and other legal bodies from enforcing foreign laws or legal provisions that violate rights guaranteed under the U.S. or Illinois constitutions. Cabello said the measure was prompted by news reports about Sharia law in parts of London and his desire to prevent similar concerns from arising in Illinois.
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"The results of this week’s referendums should give elected officials a mandate: Listen to the supermajority of Chicagoans calling on government to address budget challenges through increased taxes on corporations and very wealthy Illinoisans. ... Despite this clear consensus, the city’s pathways to raising progressive revenue remain quite limited. The Illinois Constitution does not allow taxes to be levied at different rates based on income."
The mayor and former Chicago Teachers Union organizer said he plans to speak with all members of the school board, including President-elect Jessica Biggs, saying it was paramount to secure more state funding for Chicago Public Schools and pass a millionaire tax in Illinois. "I took an arrest standing up for our neighborhood schools and went on a hunger strike," he said. "There's a long legacy of people standing up against corporate control over our schools, so I fully anticipate that voices will continue to rise up."
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Whether it's the ongoing prostitution on 5th Avenue or the ongoing homeless encampments and fly dumping, West Siders said when the city comes out, the issue just returns. "Who has the audacity to put these tires on their truck and to bring into another neighborhood and dump them?" neighbor Talei Thompson said.
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: "...(T)his first election proved as fractious as Chicago politics can get. ... Electoral politics have created a circumstance in which the new school board president has vanquished a candidate put forward by the CTU."
Celadon Partners CEO Scott Henry said he understands CPS’ funding needs, but he thinks a vacancy tax isn’t the right approach for both spurring development and supporting the school district: "Implementing something like this just adds to the list as to why it’s so difficult to do business in Chicago. We need to be creating programs or processes that create certainty and predictability if we’re going to attract developers and investors back to the city.”
Backed by $2 million in private, corporate and government funds, potential projects include The Link, which proposes turning a portion of Lower Wacker Drive into a music venue; The Vault, a large canopy and pedestrian walkway imagined for LaSalle Street between Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street; and The Pause, which aims to “transform the humble public restroom into a bold statement of what a great city can be.”
In addition, more than 71 percent voters in suburban Cook County also voted in favor of the nonbinding ballot question, according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office. The Chicago City Council blocked Mayor Brandon Johnson’s push to ask Chicago voters a similar question, prompting the Cook County Board of Commissioners to add the question to all ballots countywide.
However, the university has an institutional neutrality policy, which states, “The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic… a university must sustain an extraordinary environment of freedom of inquiry and maintain an independence from political fashions, passions, and pressures.”
“It is deeply frustrating that officers responded and attempted to apprehend those responsible, only to be directed to discontinue the chase,” Ald. Brian Hopkins said in an email to constituents. “Vehicle pursuits can be dangerous, and protecting the public must remain paramount, but placing restrictions on vehicle pursuits without providing effective alternatives is a policy failure ..."
Former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx urges the court to release the rapper under reasonable conditions, citing his September acquittal of all charges tried in the federal murder-for-hire case, nearly two years in custody awaiting that trial, and the presumption of innocence on his remaining charges of murder in aid of racketeering and a firearms offense.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas said Chicago's mayor “can’t have it both ways” when it comes to the advisory questions approved by voters Tuesday. “When you’re touting 80 percent approval for a millionaire’s tax and it’s 72 percent for gunshot technology, you can’t say that one’s more relevant than the other,” Villegas said. “If you’re going to listen to the people, then listen to the people.
The workers are mainly corporate employees, though some facility jobs also are affected, a Medline spokesperson said. The layoffs are “part of a broader effort to simplify how we operate, reduce complexity and position the company for long-term success."
Voters - more than 1.1 million Chicagoans - may have picked a board that is, by a narrow margin, likely less open to CTU-backed proposals and more friendly toward charter schools than the current board. While this majority of board members may lean toward more fiscally conservative policies, just six of them have said they support closing schools.
The referendum does not require Johnson’s administration to restore ShotSpotter or sign a contract with another provider. But its wide margin gives aldermen and community advocates more leverage as they try to convince the mayor’s office to reverse course.
Alexi Giannoulias, Maria Pappas, Mike Quigley and George Cardenas have been in the sometimes awkward position of running for reelection while also running for Chicago mayor. Dick Simpson, a professor emeritus and former alderperson, said while it’s not unusual for candidates in Chicago or elsewhere to run for two offices at once, that mostly benefits the politicians, not voters.
After CTU-backed candidates won at least nine of 21 Chicago Board of Education seats but fell short of gaining a majority, union president Stacy Davis Gates said billionaires spent a million dollars a week to support candidates for an unpaid position, and that CTU does not just bargain for sick time and personal days. “See, I’m ok to negotiate when I know that this union will take it to the picket line if they need to lower class sizes,” Gates said.
Jessica Biggs defeated CTU-backed Hilario Dominguez for president of the board.
Support for the so-called millionaires tax was overwhelming.
From January 2023 until Sept. 28 of this year, 560 people in custody were involved in suspected intoxication incidents, the Cook County Office of the Independent Inspector General said. Illinois State Police lab results found that multiple controlled substances made it into the jail, with synthetic marijuana products most frequently seen.
"There seems to be an increasing temptation to portray every disagreement over federal policy as a moral emergency requiring resistance rather than negotiation. The language of occupation, fascism, and liberation may excite activists, but it makes ordinary compromise more difficult. Federal agents become symbols of oppression rather than public servants whose conduct should be judged on the facts. Governors and mayors become resistance leaders rather than executives responsible for delivering public services. "
Hilario Dominguez, a candidate for Chicago school board president, received $1.72 million in reported support from CTU and aligned organizations, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Elections.
While the 44-6 vote effectively blows a $75 million hole in the mayor's 2027 budget proposal, alders argued the funds were always intended to continue chipping away at the city's $36 billion pension debt, not to help balance next year's budget.
Any new construction in the Cabrini footprint still has to answer to a federal consent decree. According to CHA, the court requires that 33 to 40 percent of units be designated CHA housing, with no more than 20 percent as affordable housing and no more than 50 percent as market-rate — a structure the final framework adopts directly, designating 33 to 40 percent of units as CHA housing while capping affordable units at 20 percent and market-rate units at 50 percent.
The DOJ contends the suburb’s program unlawfully distributes taxpayer benefits based strictly on race and ancestry. In its complaint, federal prosecutors allege the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment as well as the Fair Housing Act.
“One of the reasons why ShotSpotter was such a failure is because it was the antithesis of my moral standards, right?” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. He maintained that the removal of gunshot detection technology as shootings have dropped has shown the tech isn’t necessarily needed, but his administration could implement it in ways more in line with his public safety goals.
A statement from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said the number of city buses with cameras grew to 52 last month, thanks to $1 million from the Northern Illinois Transit Authority.
White guilt liberals on Chicago's North Shore called teenagers Nazis without ever asking who they were.
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Glennon raised the stakes of the moment in broader civilizational terms: “This election in Illinois is not about the usual pedestrian issues… it’s about nothing less than whether Western civilization survives in our democratic republic of America because [the left], just on the open border alone, will destroy the country, and now they’re bringing in the jihadists, frankly, into the party.” Audio and summary linked here.Audio and summary linked here.
New Trier High School made national headlines nine years ago as a "canary in a coal mine" for political indoctrination in public schools. The canaries lived. 
Among the consequences of economic growth that badly lags national averages are billions of lost revenue every year. Yet denial reigns in Illinois, fueling the vicious cycle of demand for higher taxes. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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To top it off, Stratton is funded mostly by Gov. JB Pritzker, who has long purported to be a rock solid supporter of Israel's right to exist. El-Sayed is anything but. 
What Pritzker doesn't tell you that it cost taxpayers billions, not millions, in higher taxes to get those upgrades, vastly exceeding the savings. 
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