Why don’t the Democrats have better leaders?

We know why the Republicans don’t have better leaders: The GOP turned itself into a Donald Trump personality cult, and would-be alternatives such as Ron DeSantis of Florida haven’t figured out how to get out from under the considerable shadow of the former president. Republicans may find some focus if, as expected, they have a good election in November. William Munny might have made a good political analyst: “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”

In addition to spending more than $62 million en route to an easy win in the June primary, Gov. J.B. Pritzker also gave $24 million to the Democratic Governors Association, which then spent millions on TV ads encouraging Republicans to vote for his favored GOP challenger, state Sen. Darren Bailey, financial reports showed.

The reports, filed with the Internal Revenue Service as part of the DGA’s tax-exempt status and covering April through June, show Pritzker’s contribution represented almost half of the roughly $52 million the DGA raised in the quarter.

Democratic governors taking strong stands for gun control and abortion rights aren't usurping President Joe Biden when it comes to party leadership, the White House stressed on Wednesday.

During a press gaggle en route to Cleveland, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Gov. J.B. Pritzker's (D-IL) statements on guns and Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D-CA) statements about abortion, "arguably the most outspoken voices of the Democratic Party on both of these very fragile issues."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed a roughly $43 billion state spending plan that relies heavily on federal aid and borrowing to plug budget holes created by the coronavirus pandemic.

While spending in the operating budget remains essentially flat from last year, the total plan for the year that begins July 1 includes repaying $1.6 billion that was borrowed to fill a shortfall in the current budget, and $2.2 billion in required transfers to other funds.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday told President Donald Trump that he’s been “extraordinarily concerned” about Trump’s rhetoric in the wake of unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police, and urged the president to call

for calm.

“It’s been inflammatory, and it’s not OK for that officer to choke George Floyd to death. But we have to call for calm. We have to have police reform called for,” Pritzker said to the president, according to a transcript of the Monday morning call between Trump and governors.

The governor of Illinois has withdrawn restrictions on religious services amid the coronavirus pandemic following lawsuits from the Thomas More Society.

The nonprofit law firm hailed Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Thursday announcement as a victory after the governor said he would remove mandates on Illinois churches requiring no more than 10 or more people to be present at services.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) filed an emergency rule on Friday that allows for business owners to be charged with a Class A misdemeanor for violating the state's coronavirus stay-at-home order, the New York Times reported.

Owners of businesses such as restaurants, bars, barbershops, salons, and gyms could now face a fine up to $2,500 and up to one year in jail for operating in defiance of shutdown orders implemented in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Leaders of the Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial and State Museum on Saturday condemned an anti-Semitic sign purportedly spotted at Friday’s Reopen Illinois rally in Chicago, calling it “painful to see.”

In a viral photo shared on Twitter, a demonstrator at the rally outside the Thompson Center — where hundreds gathered to decry Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s extended statewide stay-at-home order — is seen holding a handmade sign that reads, “Arbeit macht frei, JB.”

A church in northwestern Illinois added to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s legal woes Thursday, filing a federal lawsuit seeking an immediate injunction that would allow it to conduct worship services.

The church plans to hold such a service Sunday, it says.

The lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Society on behalf of The Beloved Church of Lena and its pastor, Stephen Cassell. It alleges that the Stephenson County health department delivered a cease-and-desist notice to Cassell on March 31.

Lena is about 50 miles west of Rockford.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s extension of a statewide stay-at-home order continued to face pushback Wednesday, with a second Republican state lawmaker challenging the order in a lawsuit accusing the governor of creating “a police state.”

The lawsuits, along with calls for more rallies later this week to protest the governor’s order, reflect a growing frustration over the state shutdown in some quarters even as state officials said the number of known COVID-19 cases in Illinois had pushed past 50,000.