Pritzker says it’s ‘throwing away’ votes if Democrats backed someone other than Biden

Evan Vucci, Associated Press
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at an event at the Community Building Complex of Boone County.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said Democrats would be “throwing away” their votes if they supported someone other than President Biden in November’s presidential election.

“I’m not suggesting there aren’t other names on the ballot. I’m suggesting simply that when people go to the ballot box in November, they’re going to see that there are really only two choices because it’s throwing away your vote if you’re a Democrat and you vote for someone else on the ballot other than Joe Biden,” Pritzker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“And I believe that people will see that contrast of values that I’m talking about and understand that they’ve got to vote for Joe Biden if they want to make sure that the United States does not fall into the hands of someone who is frankly a sociopath, that’s been indicted 91 times and as someone who would take this country backward,” he continued.

Pritzker dismissed concerns that third-party candidates, like independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could end up changing the outcome of November’s presidential election. Kennedy secured ballot access in the state of Michigan last week and Democrats are continuing to ramp up their efforts against the independent candidate.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being on the ballot in Michigan, I think is going to have a little effect on the ultimate result. People understand that there are really only two candidates that have a path to victory in this country and in Michigan. And, of course, that’s Joe Biden and Donald Trump,” he said.

In a three-way race between Trump, Biden and Kennedy, Trump leads by nearly 1 percentage point with 42 percent of support, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s national polling average. Biden closely follows with 41.1 percent of support while Kennedy has about 7.2 percent of support.

The Hill has reached out to Trump’s and Kennedy’s campaigns for comment.

Tags 2024 presidential election Donald Trump JB Pritzker JB Pritzker Joe Biden President Joe Biden Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Most Popular

Load more