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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is among a handful of Jewish politicians in leadership roles offering the Democratic Party a path forward ahead of the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election. But in recent weeks, he has emerged as a prominent voice of resistance to President Donald Trump, repeatedly invoking the Holocaust in his criticism of the administration’s policies.
“As somebody who led the building of a Holocaust Museum, whose family survived the pogroms in Ukraine by escaping to the United States.” has been a common refrain in most of his public remarks. The two-term Illinois Democrat helped create the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center before becoming governor in 2019.
In a recent speech at the state legislature, Pritzker, 60, drew a parallel between the Nazi regime of the 1930s and the “authoritarian” policies of the Trump administration. It took the Nazis 53 days “to dismantle a constitutional republic,” he said. Pritzker, who was on the shortlist for vice president last year and hosted the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, has called out in the past Republicans’ use of Holocaust analogies.
Pritzker defended his Nazi analogy in later TV interviews and doubled down on the comparison during a conversation about Democratic opposition to Trump at the Center for American Progress on Tuesday.
“I mentioned the programs and the Holocaust because those are personal experiences,” Pritzker told moderator Neera Tanden, who served as former President Joe Biden’s domestic policy adviser. “I built a Holocaust Museum, and I have grown up understanding that large swaths of people can be under direct attack in an authoritarian regime,” he said. “That is currently the case.”
Though Pritzker called out GOP Holocaust analogies during his reelection bid in 2022 he told reporters last month that he felt it is worthy of discussion now since many Americans “don’t fully understand what it means when we say democracy is being challenged.” Politico reported that Pritzker’s staff was supportive of his Holocaust analogy and satisfied with the attention it received.
Pritzker is one of five Jewish governors in the nation – along with Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Josh Stein of North Carolina, Jared Polis of Colorado and Josh Green of Hawaii – but the only prominent Jewish politician who has taken a direct tone against Trump. “I have sounded the alarm. I will continue to sound the alarm,” Pritzker said at Tuesday’s event. “I wish that there were more people, more elected leaders, more community leaders who will step up and speak up.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, has taken a more cautious approach in opposition. Growing calls for him to step down from his leadership role have emerged after he backed the Republican spending bill to avoid a shutdown. Shapiro, whom former Vice President Kamala Harris passed over as her running mate last year – a decision some argued cost her the key battleground state – has focused more on criticizing Trump’s policies that impact Pennsylvanians while pledging to seek common ground with the administration. Shapiro and Stein were appointed to Trump’s bipartisan Council of Governors. Polis came under fire in Nov. for endorsing Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He said he would work with Trump on key issues.
Rahm Emanuel, former U.S. ambassador to Japan and previously mayor of Chicago, who like Pritzker is mentioned as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has also increased his public appearances taking on Trump and offering Democrats a path forward.
