Govs. Pritzker, Stitt discuss ways to reduce divide in politics

By Sean Reed | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined multiple politicians from around the country Monday at the National Conference of State Legislatures for a discussion on political violence and toning down political rhetoric.

Illinois state Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, is the current NCSL president and began the event alongside Pritzker, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon.

Pritzker appeared on the conference’s opening panel alongside Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Pennsylvania Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton, and Republican Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman.

The conversation began on the topic of passing budgets, especially as it’s become increasingly rare to do so in Springfield without raising taxes, as is similar in many legislatures across the country.

“I need to hearken back to 2019 because I have to say it’s gotten harder and harder over the years,” Pritzker said. “It does start with just recognizing that the people that you’re talking to, that are on the other side of the aisle, have families, are decent people who genuinely want to do good things for the state and for the country.”

Pritzker didn’t discuss the conversations of passage of the most recent FY 2027 budget, nearly all of which excluded Republican lawmakers from most conversations, at least publicly.

McClinton discussed the high tension surrounding the recent passage of a state budget in Pennsylvania, which came days after its July 30 deadline within the nearly split legislature.

McClinton also discussed a recent time lawmakers nearly got violent on the floor of her chamber.

“There was a debate on the floor of our house in Harrisburg where we were making an effort to change the way automatic guns are converted to be weapons of war,” McClinton said. “One of our colleagues gave a speech and started talking about the Second Amendment from a different perspective. And before that colleague finished his speech, a member of the minority party stood up, lurched at him as if to say ‘we’re about to fight.’”

When asked about a lesson he’s learned from his time in office, Pritzker said he feels it’s important to be a representative of every constituent he represents – not just the ones who voted for him, referring to President Donald Trump.

“There is a history often of just rewarding the parts of the state or the people who you think voted for you and we’ve got it unfortunately in the White House. I think that’s happening right now where he’s only remembering the people that voted for him and forgetting that we have a whole country here that we’ve got to work on improving and lifting everybody up,” Pritzker said.

The governor from Oklahoma mostly agreed with Pritzker.

“But also I’ve learned that some people are going to complain if their ice cream’s too cold. You can’t make everybody happy. So you’ve got to do your job and we want our elected leaders to do their job, represent the state the best they can and then go for big things,” Stitt said.

The panel members broadly agreed in their opinion that there is an importance to state government that the federal government can’t fill.

The bipartisan conference of lawmakers and staff continues through Wednesday, and includes panels on how legislatures can and are handling major issues like tariff impacts, data centers, prediction markets and more.