SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – “36 hours – that’s all we’ve got! 36 hours!” Gov. JB Pritzker (pictured, right) shouted at midday Monday, the last day before the 2026 election.

Pritzker and many of the Democrats joining him on the ballot Tuesday rallied at the Illinois Education Association as part of a statewide blitz. The setting was apt. “Every single year, our teachers get a raise. That’s the difference a governor has made,” said Pritzker’s running mate, Christian Mitchell (pictured, center), drawing a contrast between Pritzker and predecessor Bruce Rauner.

And, of Republican gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey, the governor said, “He wants to cut school funding,” Pritzker said. “He said that. Public schools are unimportant to Darren Bailey, who founded his own private school. He would like federal money to come to the state of Illinois, because he’d like that private money that Donald Trump wants to send to private schools – he wants some of that, but he doesn’t want our public school students to get any of it.”

Bailey and other Republican candidates visited Springfield last week.