TGIF, Illinois. We’ve got a lot to cover today, so get comfy and let’s dig in.
The big news: Mayor Brandon Johnson makes campaign moves, and Rahm Emanuel makes his mark.
BORDERLINE: Gov. JB Pritzker is leaving Sunday for a four-day trade mission to Mexico that coincidentally dovetails with President Donald Trump imposing stiff tariffs on its U.S. neighbor.
The trip, with its 70-member delegation, had been planned before tariffs dominated the headlines, according to the governor’s office.
Joining Pritzker will be Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, and their spouses and top aides, Department of Commerce and Economic Development Director Kristin Richards, Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II, Intersect Illinois CEO Christy George and numerous business leaders from across the state. The full list is here.
“Illinois is a prime destination for businesses seeking to invest and grow in the U.S. market. Our state’s forward-thinking policies, coupled with our rich natural resources, skilled workforce and world-class infrastructure, make it an ideal place for companies to thrive,” Pritzker said in a statement.
The goal of the trade mission is to promote business development. Mexico is Illinois’ third-largest import market, according to Pritzker’s office. The state imports more than $19 billion in goods, including beverages, transportation equipment and electronics.
The Illinois delegation has lined up meetings with agriculture, food processing, finance and manufacturing companies with the hope of increasing future investment in Illinois.
“Trade supports over 800,000 jobs in Illinois, and our firm values businesses that support international cooperation and investments that benefit working families at home,” Martin Cabrera, CEO of Cabrera Capital, said in the statement.
Travelogue: Last year, Pritzker made trade trips to Canada and Japan. In 2023, the governor traveled to the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and made a side trip to a manufacturing plant in Germany to encourage expansion in Illinois. And in 2021, he traveled to London to talk with business leaders, and to Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP26.
The political lens: This week’s trip is to promote business development for the state, but it also gives Pritzker international experience, which is a feather in the cap of presidential political candidates — though he’s not one yet. The latest trip puts him on the ground in Mexico as talk of tariffs heat up.
RELATED
— NEW: In texts, Gov. JB Pritzker expressed doubts about Mayor Brandon Johnson amid rumors United Airlines might move, by the Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner and Alice Yin
SCOOP: Mayor Brandon Johnson has a busy campaign weekend.
He’s traveling to St. Louis today, to campaign for Tishaura Jones’ reelection bid. She’s that city’s first Black female mayor.
Johnson has a sentimental connection to St. Louis as Chicago first lady Stacie Johnson is a native of the “Gateway to the West.”
On Saturday, Johnson will start to focus on his own reelection plans for 2027. He’s holding his first big fundraiser since taking office nearly two years ago.
The invitation obtained by Playbook shows some of the biggest players in Illinois Democratic politics on the host committee, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
For now, Johnson is focused on being a regional progressive leader after being thrust onto the national stage earlier this month to defend the city’s sanctuary status before members of Congress. A person in his political orbit adds the fundraising party is a signal that Johnson plans to run for a second term — and the namey host committee sends a message to potential challengers that they’re in for a fight.
If you are Jerry Costello II, Playbook would like to chat! Email: [email protected]
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Campaigning in St. Louis.
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RAHM EMANUEL is immersing himself back into the Chicago psyche. The former ambassador to Japan and former Chicago mayor has started a scholarship program to benefit ROTC high school students looking to go to college. He’s personally donating $120,000 a year to give 12 students $10,000 each for school.
“I just want to support kids who have shown an early level of maturity and character built around service to country and community,” he told your Playbook host in an interview.
Most ROTC students in Chicago are Black or Latino or come from underserved communities that could feel the effects of the White House cutting back on diversity, equity and inclusion at universities. But Emanuel says his goal wasn’t to push back at anti-DEI efforts.
There’s some history: He became familiar with Junior ROTC students when he was mayor and helped fund college scholarships to assist undocumented and JROTC students. He also acknowledges being sentimental to ROTC given his son used to do morning runs with ROTC students.
Emanuel’s scholarship program is in line with many of his previous endeavors — from helping boost funds for AmeriCorps while he worked in the Clinton White House to supporting AmeriCorps and Peace Corps during the Obama administration.
Those programs, like the scholarship, have nothing to do with politics, he said.
About politics: News of the scholarship comes on the heels of Emanuel flooding the media zone about Americans needing to find common ground. And it’s fueled talk about his political ambitions.
“People realize we have spent too much time on identity rather than sharing what we have in common. I think people are yearning for that community again,” he said.
And if the far right and far left disagree, he adds, “I don’t care.”
— ON THE ROAD: Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) is headlining a series of statewide town halls, including in areas that voted for Donald Trump in November. The town halls mirror a national Democratic strategy to get Democrats into Red state areas. The events are being coordinated with the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association.
“I was first motivated to run for Congress in part because my predecessor refused to meet with Illinoisans during the first Trump administration. I’m proud to have held 80 town halls since I was elected in 2018,” Casten said in a statement. His participation in the statewide meetings also signals he could be considering a bid for the U.S. Senate should Sen. Dick Durbin decide not to run. The first town hall is April 12 in Dixon. Don’t be surprised if other gatherings are held in the Republican districts of Congress members Mike Bost, Darin LaHood and Mary Miller.
— SIGNAL-GATE: Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) called the Signal scandal “alarming,” according to a statement. “What happened was a serious mistake, and under no circumstances can something like this happen again.” And Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-05) joined other Democrats in calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired over the leaked chat on Signal. Quigley accused Hegseth of being “reckless.”
— Trump administration blocks more than $400M in funding for Illinois health programs: “Nearly $2B in federal funds is not being sent to Illinois, according to Pritzker’s office,” by Capitol News’ Ben Szalinski and Jade Aubrey.
— The ghosts of Geneva’s �?home for wayward girls’: “The Illinois State Training School for Girls was the state’s first and only girls’ prison. Nearly 50 years after its closure, it remains a cautionary lesson on progressive reform and youth justice,” by the Reader’s Katie Prout.
— Bipartisan effort seeks stricter measures to protect sexual assault victims in schools, by Medill Illinois News Bureau’s Athan Yanos
— Two THC potency labeling cases dropped in Illinois, by Green Market Report’s Debra Borchardt
— Power struggle delays filling one of Chicago’s most important and highest-paid jobs — Choose Chicago CEO: “The permanent position that has commanded a $520,000 salary has been vacant for more than a year. Now, Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed off on the hiring of Kristen Reynolds, CEO of Discover Long Island,” by the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman and David Roeder.
— CPS is close to a deal with the teachers union — but bargaining continues, by Crain’s Justin Laurence
— 16 new speed cameras will go live across Chicago next week — And more are coming soon, by the Block Club’s Quinn Myers
— On opening day, hope springs eternal — even on the South Side, by the Tribune’s Andrew Carter
— Dispute over Wirtz family’s Ivanhoe Village proposal prompts a resignation in Mundelein, by the Daily Herald’s Russell Lissau
— Coroner confirms remains of Karen Schepers, an Elgin woman who went missing in 1983, by the Daily Herald’s Rick West
— Naperville Election 2025: Council candidates split on reviving affordable housing incentives for developers, by the Naperville Sun’s Tess Kenny
— Ald. Pat Dowell’s fundraiser at The Staley this week drew a high-profile City Hall crowd, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Alds. Greg Mitchell, Ronnie Mosley, David Moore and Jason Ervin, Judges Tony Thedford, Linda Sackey and Yolanda Harris Sayre, Chicago Urban League President and CEO Karen Freeman-Wilson, Chicago Urban League President Emeritus James Compton, former Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Daniel “Pogo” Pogorzelski and Chicago School Board member Jessica Briggs.
We asked what game you play on your phone.
Jason Baumann: “After reaching Level 7,800 on Royal Match, I realized I spent too much time on it so I switched to Block Blast where the only evidence of my addiction is the high score.”
Mike Gascoigne: “Codenames. It is a spy-themed word association game.”
William Kresse: “NYT’s daily Wordle and Mini-Crossword. I compete every day with my wife Erin (who usually wins).”
Chris Ruys: “Classic Words. Can’t get enough of that Scrabble!”
Angela Waller: “Candy Crush and Phase 10!”
NEXT QUESTION: What baseball game do you never miss?
— White House yanks Stefanik’s U.N. nomination as worries grow of thin GOP House majority, via POLITICO
— �?This is completely insane’: A reality check about the Signal chat leak, by POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi
— If Trump defies the courts, it will backfire badly, by POLITICO’s Ankush Khardori
— Joanna Belanger is now COO of C-Strategies public affairs and strategic communications. She was senior director of partnerships and donor relations for the Chicago 2024 Host Committee for the Democratic National Convention and worked on a range of policy campaigns.
— Deborah Cosey-Lane is now senior adviser to state Treasurer Michael Frerichs. She had worked for Chicago Transit Authority and was secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308.
— Adela V. Korecki, the 90-year-old dear mom of NBC political reporter (and inaugural Illinois Playbook author) Natasha Korecki, has died. Visitation and funeral are Saturday. Details here
THURSDAY’s ANSWER: Congrats to Bob Remer for correctly answering that, in 1860, Ulysses S. Grant worked in his family’s Galena leather goods shop, Grant & Perkins.
TODAY’s QUESTION: Speaking of Galena, what was the original name of the Galena River? Email [email protected]
Today: Democratic Committeewoman Carol Ronen, former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Ron Gidwitz, former Treasury Secretary and Paulson Institute Chair Hank Paulson, former state Rep. Marlow Colvin, government consultant Heather Wier Vaught, Pride Action Tank Executive Director Kim Hunt, Jenner & Block Senior Comms Manager Samantha Budde, lobbyist Ben Whipple, Illinois Economic Policy Institute Executive Director Josh Weger, comms pro Tilden Katz and ABC News national correspondent Alex Perez
Saturday: Ald. Anthony Napolitano, former White House press secretary now Warner Brothers chief comms officer Robert Gibbs, Endeavor Co-CEO Ari Emanuel, SDI Presence co-founder and rabid Loyola alum Jack Hartman, Impact for Equity Managing Director of Finance Sally Gonzales, Secretary of State Executive Assistant Angel Alicea, CTA comms director Tammy Williamson Chase, University of Chicago economist Roger Myerson, content strategist Casey Wian and former POLITICO columnist Roger Simon
Sunday: Ald. Angela Clay, former state Rep. Avery Bourne, Small Business Advocacy Council Government Liaison Omari Prince and Chicago Dowel Co. President Paul Iacono
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- Shia Kapos @shiakapos
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