Illinois election results: Pritzker wins third term, Stratton wins U.S. Senate seat

We're getting word now that J.B. Pritzker has just been called. It's 7-0-1. Who knew? That was quick. I think the over-under was 7-0-2. We kind of thought maybe it'd be 7-0-2, but so it begins for our state. Not all the races will be called that quickly, but that was one I think we all agreed would probably be called fairly fast, no? And so that leads to a discussion as well. We're kind of with John Ossoff as well. Well, 2028, he's been viewed as a 2028 contender. JB Pritzker viewed as a 2028 contender, having a resounding win when we don't know what the numbers are yet just yet. But what do we think this says about his chances? I think an Ossoff resounding win, resounding win from folks like Shapiro folks are in those more purple states. It's just a completely different animal than what the Governor Pritzker is dealing with here in Illinois. Reminder that he has spent half a billion dollars on politics over the last 10 years. His first race was the. He broke a record for self-funding. He's tripled up on that since his first race. And importantly, a lot of that spending, around $35 million four years ago, was in boosting Darren Bailey's name ID in that Republican primary. New York Times at the time called it the most meddling ever done in an opponent's primary. Very politically savvy move. But one that gave him a layup in two elections in a row, that's a very different picture than what a blue state governor or purple state governor is dealing with. And interesting that we say like politically savvy move there. But we have seen even in this election cycle, the Dan Sullivans in Alaska, that political maneuvering has not been looked at favorably. It's actually been called out in a very different light. And voters have been showing in polls through different outlets that corruption is something that they are really activated by. Many people thinking maybe the economy would have been the bellwether of these races, but people are not liking seeing things like that, maneuvers and trickeration happening around there. I want to get y'all two's opinion here on 2028 and whether... Pritzker winning, especially, he's been favored to win this, and how big that win is, we're going to see. What that says about 2028, if anything, does it? Well, I think the governor, you know, he obviously, as Austin spoke, he has a lot of money, he will only use it, and you're seeing him use that money in other states a lot. He's been really big in Texas, I know, and Georgia, and he's trying to replicate what he's done in Illinois kind of nationwide. So obviously, The governor has kind of replaced the old Madigan machine with his personal wealth. And so it's an interesting strategy. You've never really seen that in a Democratic primary, a very wealthy man kind of coming in with... Hundreds of millions of dollars and trying to spread that out throughout the country. It didn't work for Michael Bloomberg, I might add. It sure didn't. So we'll see what with JB Pritzker. Not only did he spend for his race, he spent for Juliana Stratton and they just called the race for her as well. So I'll give you the first opportunity to talk about the two of them now winning their races. Yeah, I think it's historic for Senator-elect Juliana Stratton, congrats to her on that race. But I think we have to look at the margins that they are winning by in suburban Cook Especially some of the lower parts of the state. Because if he's had it on lock, right, 50% or above, he is positioned like Patrick said for 2028. I'll be interested to see how folks are voting, particularly those rural counties that diesel is a part of the conversation affordability. So I think they are in preparation for 2028, but I'd be interested to see how folks are voting. Yeah, I think we have a live picture to Juliana Stratton. We sure do. Election headquarters. Looks like they're playing a video right now, getting ready for her to come up and speak soon. Well, as we do that, I mean, straddling through this race, I think people have been trying to figure out, who is she? Even though she was lieutenant governor of Illinois, there still seemed to be a lot of... Questions about what kind of senator she would be. Austin, do you feel like through this campaign, you've got any answers to that? Well, there's only one debate, really, between the two candidates. So people didn't really get to hear a lot of substance, really, from either candidate. I would say Don Tracy really worked hard. I think the final margin here, you're going to see a decent picture of how big the wave was in Illinois. We haven't really talked that much about a blue wave in Illinois because Democrats were favored to win statewide. What I'm also really looking for here is what is the split between what Don Tracy is able to achieve in that race And where Darren Bailey lands, especially as in the Bailey-Pritzker race, there is an independent statewide in the race, which we often do not see in Illinois, Colin Corbett. Can he get to that 10, 15% margin in the suburbs? He's trying to send a message to especially Republicans, hey, I can move votes here as an independent. You need to move to the center to try to get some of this if you wanna succeed in Illinois. And it really, we don't often get to see too much of the position, the independent Not independent as in, you know... Category but independent thought of the lieutenant governor often. So when we started to see an actual candidate, Juliana Stratton, it was interesting to see what lane are you going to pick here? And she went for a far progressive one. Yes. In the primary, she outflanked Raja. As you know, Raja spent much more money than Juliana Stratton, even though that Stratton was supported by the governor. She was still outspent, I believe, three or four to one. It was very significant. You know, running as a progressive Democrat as far as left as you can go without being, I guess, you know, too far left is really, you know, the key to win Democratic primaries and frankly, the state of Illinois now. Yeah, you say not too far left, not DSA, but that. It's an ad that we can't even mention. Yeah. The colorful language. Yeah, colorful. It's called they said it. It became a national story. Yes. Canadians were talking about it. Yeah. Yeah. And they're close to us. When she sent me that ad, I didn't believe it was gonna be put on air, but they did put it on there, yeah. And I do think her staking out, as you mentioned, that kind of far left lane. Yeah. For some candidates, it feels uncomfortable when they do that, or it doesn't feel authentic to who they are. I think with Stratton, it did feel like, no, she's about this, and this is how she really feels. Stratton was my state rep during the one term that she was the state representative for the South Loop area. And as long as I've known her, she has been progressive. She worked a lot for criminal justice rights in that field. So I think she's being authentic to herself when she's running as a progressive to the left. Even those dancing videos, that has been Juliana for the longest. So I think I did all that. She has been authentic to herself. She got moves. Yeah, she does. She does. Chicago moves for sure. More so than what JB Pritzker's own election says about his presidential prospects, the way that his team was able to maneuver in the Democratic primary to get Juliana Stratton He threatened past Raja. Given all that spend, that sent a lot of messages to Democrats across the country. Oh, this team might be formidable.