When President Joe Biden called Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday morning to tell him Chicago landed the 2024 convention, the governor vowed the city would “throw a huge party” to celebrate his successes.
The call came more than a year after Pritzker first pitched DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison on hosting the convention. And it came 39 years after Pritzker attended his first Democratic convention, in a role he described as a behind-the-scenes “gopher.”
Biden called Pritzker with the DNC news just before boarding Air Force One for Ireland. Biden thanked Pritzker for “all of his support,” and told him, “I just want you to know we’re planning on having the Democratic convention in Chicago,” according to a source with direct knowledge of the call.
Pritzker said, “You know that Chicago is your kind of town. We’re going to throw a huge party, and it’s going to be a real big celebration of all of your successes.”
Biden in return said, “I know you’re going to throw a huge party. I’m very excited and send my thanks to [First Lady] M.K. as well.”
Since that call — and his arrival home to Chicago after attending a Harvard event — Pritzker has been glued to his phone. Traveling with Pritzker was Anne Caprara, his chief of staff, who used her own extensive contacts in the Biden orbit to lobby for Chicago to be the host city in 2024.
Staffers, who described his desire to get the DNC as “relentless” said the governor was “ebullient” on Tuesday.
Pritzker told the Sun-Times he spoke with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to thank them for their “representation” of the “Blue Wall” of the Midwest. Pritzker also spoke with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens — and left a message for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. The governor acknowledged, “there are lots more calls to make.”
“It’s an economic boon,” Pritzker said. “And it’s a recognition of all the great things that we have done here in Illinois that represent the values of the Democratic Party and the values of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
The governor said he has attended every DNC since 1984: “I was a volunteer working inside the convention with the ability to get anywhere, which was the coolest thing about it as a young person,” Pritzker said. “But I was a gopher, working in whatever way that the DNC asked me to.”
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson learned Chicago would host the convention when he got a call from someone at the White House on Tuesday morning.
Johnson, who will be sworn-in as mayor on May 15th said he was so excited to get a call from the White House that he saved the voicemail “to make sure that my grandchildren hear it one day.”
Johnson, still absorbing the enormity of becoming mayor, reacted to Chicago landing the convention in personal terms.
“This is an exciting time. I mean, I was teaching middle school, you know, just a handful of years ago. I’m Mayor-elect and I’m getting a phone call from the White House — and that one of the most dynamic conventions known to to humankind is coming to the city in which just elected me,” he said.
“So I’m very, very excited, thrilled, humbled. It’s been a great ... team effort,” Johnson added, expressing his gratitute to Pritzker, Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, business leaders and others who “played an incredible role in bringing this into fruition. But absolutely, this is an exciting time for the city of Chicago,” Johnson said.
GOP slams Chicago choice
While Chicago convention boosters were highlighting the logistical and political advantages of Chicago, national and state Republicans seized on the city’s crime woes.
Tommy Pigott, Rapid Response Director for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that “Democrats just chose one of the worst-run cities in America for their convention: Chicago. Illinois.” Republican Party Chair Don Tracy said it’s no surprise the DNC chose Chicago, “where they can put the city’s failed far-left policies on display for the world to see.”
Asked whether the DNC questioned Chicago’s crime rate when considering the city as a convention site, Pritzker said, “they never challenged Chicago on that basis.” He said every major city saw a rise in crime during the pandemic — and cited improvements.