Gov. JB Pritzker criticizes AIPAC after pro-Israel group spent heavily in Illinois primary

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday condemned special interest money that poured into the state ahead of this week's primary, including from a pro-Israel political group that the billionaire and potential 2028 presidential contender once supported.

Pritzker, a Jewish Democrat who also spent money to influence races Tuesday, was a donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee before he walked away more than a decade ago. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that AIPAC, which lobbies for U.S. support for Israel and is a top donor to political campaigns, lost its way as a bipartisan group focused on Middle East peace.

“It became an organization that was supporting Donald Trump and people who follow Donald Trump,” Pritzker said. “AIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of.”

Outside groups, including AIPAC, funneled roughly $70 million into six open U.S. House and Senate races in Illinois on Tuesday. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, called it “interference."

A message left Wednesday for an AIPAC spokesperson wasn't immediately returned.

The open contests in Illinois — largely due to retirements — were a proving ground for some of the biggest issues before Democrats in 2026, from support for Israel to the cryptocurrency and AI industries, as super PACs poured millions into the races. Questions about U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas war, and in recent days the Iran war, permeated several contests.

AIPAC's involvement sparked some of the primary's harshest attacks, but the group's success was mixed. In a 10-candidate primary for a U.S. House district that includes parts of Chicago's South Side, AIPAC backed Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, who won the Democratic nod Tuesday. The group's preferred Democratic candidate in a heavily Jewish district north of Chicago, however, lost to Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

While unopposed in his own primary, Pritzker was a strong presence in several campaigns, contributing millions to support his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in her successful bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

The move, and Pritzker's possible 2028 presidential bid, put a fresh spotlight on his global policy views amid growing unrest over the Democratic Party’s relationship to Israel.

A supporter of Israel, Pritzker has also rejected the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has called for two-state solution with “safe havens” needed both for Jews in Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

“I do not know why the United States has walked away from that, except, of course, that Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand how to create Middle East peace and instead wants to go to war, as he has now done in Iran, simply following Netanyahu into that war,” Pritzker said.

“Are we going to now take military adventures across the world to take out leaders, who we think are bad for their countries?” he said. “If so, we’re going to be involved in a whole lot of wars going forward.”

Pritzker himself put at least $5 million into helping Stratton get elected. She won the Democratic Senate nomination over U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who dominated in fundraising.

Outside groups also spent more than $16 million to support Stratton’s campaign, while also spending $11 million in opposition.

Pritzker said Stratton won because she was strong on issues, not because of his influence.

“She stood on her own two feet, and people saw that she’s real and she’s going to be a fighter for us in Washington,” Pritzker said.

Some voters disagreed.

Matthew Crain, 54, who is from downstate Chatham, said Pritzker’s endorsement influenced him to change his vote from Krishnamoorthi to Stratton.

Crain, a state worker, said that given the potential of Pritzker running for president, "I thought having one of his allies in would be a good thing.”

Brooke Morgan, 39, from Springfield, said she became familiar with Stratton’s politics over her last seven years as lieutenant governor.

“The governor is doing a pretty good job in Illinois, and I think that his backing, his support of her certainly gave me some confidence as well,” said Morgan, a museum curator.

In November, Pritzker faces Republican Darren Bailey, a former state lawmaker who backs Trump’s agenda. It will be a rematch after Pritzker handily defeated Bailey in 2022.

In a campaign speech to supporters Tuesday, Bailey, who received Trump’s endorsement four years ago, said he doesn’t agree with the president on everything and vowed to include Democrats who feel left out.

Meanwhile in a campaign ad posted Wednesday, Pritzker’s team characterized Bailey as “still too extreme for Illinois.”

When asked about his own ambitions for higher office, Pritzker said he is not planning anything beyond his 2026 bid for a third term.

“That is not something I’m thinking,” he said.

Associated Press writer John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois, contributed to this report.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker attends an interview, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, left, and running mate, candidate for lieutenant governor, speak during an interview, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, left, and running mate for lieutenant governor Christian Mitchell arrive for an interview, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker with running mate, for lieutenant governor, Christian Mitchell speaks during an interview, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, left, and running mate, candidate for lieutenant governor, Christian Mitchell speak during an interview, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione 's lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to postpone his federal trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson until early next year and said they will seek to have his state murder trial delayed until September.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, Mangione's lawyers said that the current schedule — the state trial in June and the federal trial in September — would put him “in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time.”

They asked Garnett to delay the federal trial until January 2027 so that they can have an opportunity to ask the state trial judge, Gregory Carro, to reschedule the start of that case from June 8 to Sept. 8. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Carro previously raised the possibility of moving the state trial to September — but only if federal prosecutors appealed Garnett’s decision barring them from seeking the death penalty. They declined to do so, leaving the June state trial and September federal trial dates intact.

Keeping the current schedule would violate Mangione's constitutional rights, his lawyers argued.

Among other concerns, they said, preparations for jury selection in the federal case would overlap with the state trial, limiting Mangione's ability to review questionnaires filled out by hundreds of potential jurors — infringing on his right to participate in his own defense.

Back-to-back trials would also rob Mangione of his right to effective assistance of counsel, his lawyers said, because they would be forced to prepare for the federal trial while simultaneously defending him in court at the state trial.

“Though fierce advocates for their clients, defense counsel cannot be in two places at once,” wrote Mangione's lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan.

Federal prosecutors oppose the request and will respond in a letter of their own, Mangione's lawyers said.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting the federal case, and the Manhattan district attorney's office, which is prosecuting the state case, both declined to comment.

Mangione, 27, faces the possibility of life in prison if he's convicted in either case. At a court hearing in February, he spoke out against the prospect of two trials, telling the judge: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later after he was spotted eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

His lawyers have argued that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle, including by having armed officers parade him up a Manhattan pier after he was flown to New York and by publicly declaring their desire to seek the death penalty before he was indicted.

In January, Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge — murder through use of a firearm — that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding it legally flawed. She wrote that she did so to “foreclose the death penalty as an available punishment to be considered by the jury” when it weighs whether to convict Mangione.

In their letter, Mangione's lawyers argued that delaying the federal trial would allow a buffer between his state trial and the beginning of the juror questionnaire process that precedes jury selection in the federal matter.

Without a delay, they wrote, “Mr. Mangione’s potential federal jurors will be constantly bombarded with news reports and social media posts relating to the allegations and evidence against Mr. Mangione as they fill out juror questionnaires and in the subsequent weeks before they are empaneled in the federal case.”

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Dec. 16, 2025. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP File)

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Dec. 8, 2025. (Stephen Yang/New York Post via AP, Pool, File