But Pritzker vetoed that effort last year when sponsored by Republican Sue Rezin.

With a video montage showcasing the state’s Democratic elected officials as Star Wars heroes fighting President Donald Trump – portrayed as Darth Vader – party leaders unofficially kicked off the 2026 campaign. That was part of an annual Democratic County Chairs’ Association breakfast in Springfield attended by more than 2,000 people before Gov. JB Pritzker held the governor’s traditional campaign rally at the Illinois State Fair.

Beginning Jan. 1, a new Illinois law cracks down on predatory towing by letting the Illinois Commerce Commission impound unregistered trucks and suspend plates tied to unpaid fines.

The national Educational Choice for Children Act creates a federal tax-credit scholarship program for both public and private school students to help boost them academically. Here are seven reasons why Illinois should opt into the program.

“To be crystal clear, this person was in this country illegally,” Rep. Andrew Chesney said. “He was a multiple criminal offender with domestics and felony DUIs. And our local law enforcement is unable to communicate with federal authorities to remove people like this from our state and our country. It’s a direct result of the policy we have passed in Springfield.”

“Imagine what Illinois’ most famous son — President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican — might think of what his state has become. Maybe it’s time to change the state slogan from “Land of Lincoln” to ‘Prairie of Poor Tax Design.'”

“For Pritzker, the penalty was merely being denounced as a hypocrite, which rarely bothers politicians playing to the extreme parts of their parties. While Pritzker proclaimed that the Texas Democrats would remain safe under his protection in Illinois, the media just shrugged when the resistance collapsed and they returned home to collect their frozen salaries.”

The campaign’s website is linked here.

“Mr. Pritzker’s presidential ambitions could use a review of the soft-on-crime policies that set the Land of Lincoln up as a Trump target for its failure to preserve law and order.”

Illinois Democrats brought some of their biggest names to Springfield Tuesday to call attention to the massive cuts that will take effect in the coming years for programs that benefit low-income communities.

More students in Illinois would be considered proficient on the state’s annual math and reading tests under a proposal to change cut scores, which the Illinois State Board of Education is set to vote on Wednesday.

With the addition of two manufacturing lines to assemble EV batteries and commercial chargers, Gotion will have five production lines in operation in Manteno, Chen Li, president of Gotion Americas, tells Crain’s. Another line, which makes residential and consumer energy-storage products for applications such as solar, started in April.