Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker urged Arizona Democrats to win elections decisively, defend reproductive rights and resist what he described as increasingly extreme Republican politics during a Friday appearance in Tucson.
Pritzker is a Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible national Democratic figure. Speaking at the Congress Hotel in Tucson, he addressed members of the Arizona List, a political organization that supports candidates who back abortion rights.
He praised Arizona voters for electing Democrats to statewide offices and for sending U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego to Washington.
“We have to win,” Pritzker said. “And we have to win big in November.”
Reproductive rights focus
Pritzker tied his support for abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and civil rights to his mother, whom he described as an activist who brought him to marches and political meetings while he was growing up.
“One of the first things that I did when I got elected governor of Illinois was push for and get passed the Reproductive Health Act, which guarantees a woman’s right to choose in the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said Illinois has become a refuge for people seeking abortion care from all six neighboring Republican states with restrictive abortion laws. He said Illinois also enacted protections intended to safeguard the privacy of people who travel there for reproductive health care.
He thanked Arizona List advocates for helping pass the state constitutional amendment protecting abortion access in 2024 and singled out Arizona List President Cathy Nichols for praise.
Strict regulation of data centers
Pritzker warned about the rapid growth of large data centers and said states should not permit them to increase utility costs or strain local water supplies.
Illinois initially offered tax incentives to attract data centers but began reassessing that approach as companies proposed hyperscale facilities—including artificial intelligence data centers—with enormous energy needs.
Pritzker said some companies wanted access to the full output of a nuclear power plant, which could restrict electricity available to other users.
“That was the beginning for me of, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. Maybe we need to step back and ask them a lot of questions first,’” he said.
He and Illinois lawmakers are promoting legislation called the POWER Act that would require new data centers to build wind, solar and battery power at their own expense to cover their own energy use. The proposal also gives local communities greater control over whether data centers can be built in their jurisdictions.
Pritzker said he halted processing of tax-incentive applications after the Legislature did not pass the measure during its spring session. He said major technology companies can afford to build facilities without public subsidies.
“If they want to build, just don’t do it at our expense,” Pritzker said. The POWER Act bill is now moving through the Illinois General Assembly.
Infrastructure investment
Pritzker also called for sustained public investment in transportation, solar energy, mass transit, railways, airports and EV charging stations.
“Infrastructure is a long-term investment that pays dividends over the long term,” Pritzker said.
He said better roads, airports and other public facilities can attract businesses, reduce costs for residents and improve mobility. He also said federal policy should make it easier for state and local governments to pursue major projects.
The Rebuild Illinois program is a $50.6 billion multi-year transportation program spanning through 2031 and targeting all 102 counties.
Immigration enforcement
Pritzker said the country needs a secure border but condemned immigration-enforcement operations in Chicago and elsewhere that he said have swept up U.S. citizens, legal residents and people without violent-crime records.
“If you don’t have a secure border, you don’t have a country,” Pritzker said, quoting Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego. “That doesn’t mean we should keep everybody out. It just means you’ve got to have a secure border so you know who’s coming in.”
Pritzker recounted the story of his great-grandfather, who arrived in the United States as a 10-year-old refugee, learned English in public school and later attended college and law school. He said that family history illustrates his view that immigrants who work, pay taxes and support their families should have a pathway to legal status.
Pritzker criticized sweeping mass immigration raids targeting Black and brown residents, people with accents and people who speak languages other than English. He said only 5% of detainees had committed violent crimes or lacked legal immigration status.
“The most entrepreneurial people sometimes in our country are people who came here from somewhere else to build a life for themselves and their family,” Pritzker said.
He concluded by calling for comprehensive immigration reform that would combine border security with legal pathways for immigrants.
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