From Governor JB Pritzker:
2026 State of the State Budget Address
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Speaker Welch, President Harmon, Leader McCombie, Leader Curran, Lieutenant
Governor Juliana Stratton, my fellow constitutional officers, members of the 104th
General Assembly, Chief Justice Neville and Justices of the Supreme Court, First Lady
MK Pritzker, honored guests, and all the people of the great state of Illinois, I’m pleased
to be here to share with you a message about the State of the State and introduce
another balanced budget proposal.
This year is special. We celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
Two hundred and fifty years this democracy has stood – imperfect at times, struggling at
others, but always with pride in our people’s enduring aspirations to steer this nation
toward unity, freedom, and justice. During that quarter of a millennia, Illinois has
played a unique role in helping our country bridge the fractures that inevitably emerge
in a young nation.
It’s also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Black History Month, set in
February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and
to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans.” Yesterday, we
lost a giant who spent his life on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. He broke
down barriers, inspired generations, and kept hope alive. I ask all of you to stand and
join me in a moment of silence for the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Throughout my time in office, I’ve tried to bring attention to Illinois’ important role in
history. I’ve told you stories about the Great Chicago Fire, about the uniqueness of our
handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, about the heroes of the pandemic we faced
a century ago, about our predecessors in these offices who confronted unexpected crises
and who found solutions they previously didn’t think were possible. I’ve told you stories
about Illinoisans whose names loom large in American history — and some whosenames history forgot.
I think, to lead, it’s important to be a student of history. If you have the courage to
confront all of our past – the good and the bad, the hopeful and the messy – history has
the power to inform a better future.
I have particularly enjoyed reaching into the state archives to see the State of the State
messages that past Governors have delivered to this body. I admit there is a particular
comfort in reading the words of people that preceded me by generations and hearing
their frustration with problems remarkably like the ones we confront today. I also like
the idea that some poor Governor 100 years from now will read these words looking for
comfort.
I’ve always been intrigued by Governor John Peter Altgeld, and I discovered his State of
the State message to the 39th Illinois General Assembly all the way back on January 9,
1895.
Altgeld’s State of the State lasts for 60 pages – I assure you mine today is considerably
shorter. During his, he talked about: the need to ensure that science would govern the
practice of medicine in Illinois; the high cost of insurance; the condition of Illinois
prisons; the funding of state universities; a needed revision of election laws; the
concentration of wealth in large businesses; and a section entitled “Women in Public
Service.”
That last part starts with Altgeld’s pride about appointing women to positions in state
government, well before women had the right to vote. And he concludes by saying: “The
army of women who are obliged to earn their own bread is constantly increasing…
Justice requires that the same rewards and honors that encourage and incite men
should be equally in reach of women in every field and activity. And I am glad to report
that they have met every reasonable expectation. As a rule they have done their work
well.”
I bring up Governor Altgeld’s words on the subject of equal rights to highlight oneenduring human truth – injustice can become a genetic condition we bequeath on future generations if we fail to face it forthrightly.
When we gathered here a year ago, President Trump had just taken office. To be
perfectly candid, as Illinois is one of the states whose taxpayers send more dollars to the
federal government than we receive back in services, I was hoping that his threats to gut
programs that support working families was the kind of unrealistic hyperbole that fuels
a presidential campaign but then is abandoned when cooler heads prevail.
Unfortunately, there are no cooler heads at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days.
$8.4 billion dollars. That is how much the Trump administration has cost the people of
Illinois.
Alongside many other states, Illinois is fighting more than 50 cases in court where the
federal government is illegally confiscating money that has already been promised and
appropriated by the Congress to the people of Illinois.
These are not handouts. These are dollars that real Illinoisans paid in federal taxes and
that have been constitutionally approved by our elected Democratic and Republican
representatives in Washington.
Unlike the federal government, every year Illinois must balance its budget. When
Donald Trump is taking resources away that are rightfully ours, none of us — Democrats
or Republicans — should be ok with that. So as we embark on this journey of
maintaining our state’s now re-established record of fiscal responsibility, I want to say
to anyone on either side of the aisle: If you want to talk about our FY 2027 budget, you
must first demand the return of the money and resources this President has taken from
the people of Illinois.
On top of the cost inflicted on this state’s residents — billions in illegally withheld funds— our state is also forced to spend enormous time and taxpayer money going to court
and fighting to get what is rightfully ours. A heinous example of the government’s waste
and fraud if I have ever seen one.
For his work expertly wielding his legal sword to protect our state, I want to ask you to
join me in recognizing our outstanding Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
It is impossible to tally the hours, days, and weeks our state government has spent
chasing news of Presidential executive orders, letters, and edicts that read like
proclamations from the Lollipop Guild.
Here’s just one glaring example: The Trump administration — out of the blue — asked
the Illinois Department of Transportation to spend state money getting rid of rainbow
crosswalks in Chicago. That was happening while victims of severe storms, flash floods,
and tornadoes were waiting months for a response to their requests for FEMA to help
their devastated communities. Those requests for relief were then denied by the
President — at great cost and pain to the communities affected. But hey, I’m glad
someone in Washington is focused on what color our crosswalks get painted.
Meanwhile, the President is making life harder and less affordable with tariff taxes on
working families and small businesses, trade wars devastating farmers, cuts to
healthcare, food assistance, and education, imposing increased bureaucracy on states,
lower job creation than any year since Trump’s first term. You get the idea.
Here is the good news: Illinois has suffered through similar hardship before, and we
know the way out. Since 2018, our state’s credit rating has gone from near junk bond
status to getting 10 consecutive credit upgrades, our 8-billion-dollar overdue bill
backlog has been paid, our pension funded ratio has gone from nearly an all time low to
now the highest in 17 years, and our rainy day fund has grown from $4 million to $2.4
billion.
We’ve done all of this while balancing the budget every year and making historicinvestments in education, child welfare, disability services, and private sector job
creation. We’ve been building a fiscal foundation to ensure that – come hell or high
water, including the turbulence of Donald Trump – we can manage through the hard
times and nevertheless make progress for a brighter future.
Despite the headwinds, the Illinois economy has proven remarkably resilient — forging
ahead on our path toward accelerating growth and expansion.
This year, our state’s GDP surpassed $1.2 trillion dollars, up from $881 billion dollars
when I took office. We are among the top 20 economies in the world and a top five state
for electricity production. We are now number 13 in CNBC’s Best States for Business –
up a whopping 17 spots since 2019. For the third year in a row, Illinois ranked as the
number two state in the nation for corporate expansions and relocations into our state.
And in 2025, our Department of Commerce and the Illinois Economic Development
Corporation attracted a record-setting amount of investment across all of our regions.
Site selectors and companies looking to move to Illinois consistently tell me our high
quality skilled workforce sets us apart nationally. And skilled workers are choosing
Illinois because they earn more here. In fact, Illinois ranks 4th nationally for college
graduates seeing a return on investment in their education. And for earnings in the
trades, like construction, Chicago is #1 in the country for large metro areas, and Peoria
is #1 for mid-size metro areas. And for small metro areas, Decatur, Champaign, and
Rockford are numbers #2, #3, and #4 respectively.
And while Donald Trump says it’s a “hellhole” here, 113 million domestic and
international visitors still flock to Illinois – spending a record $48.5 billion, driving an
all-time high in hotel tax revenue and restoring O’Hare as the busiest airport in the
nation.
I want our economy to grow faster, and now that we’ve turned this state in the right
direction, a growing number of companies are choosing Illinois to make investments
and create jobs. Our narrative and our economy is changing and improving, and we’re
setting ourselves up for even better results in the years ahead.
It has also been a remarkable year for K through 12 education in our state. We’ve
prioritized school funding, putting billions more into public education to improve the
student-teacher ratio and get better outcomes for our children. And it’s working.
The Nation’s Report Card compares all 50 states, and the results are clear. Illinois is
among the best in the nation. Only one state outpaced Illinois in 8th grade reading
scores, and only four states outpaced Illinois in 8th grade math scores. We’re leading the
pack because of sustained investments in education.
At the same time, Illinois’ high school graduation rate has climbed to its highest level in
15 years. And high schoolers’ participation in Career and Technical Education has grown
to nearly 300,000 students statewide.
Those results were in part driven by the passion and dedication of the record high
number of teachers employed in our state this year. Our Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot
Program has invested $120 million to help school districts recruit and retain educators.
Because of those remarkable results – and because of our commitment to building on
what works – I’m proud to say we are extending the program for a fourth year.
Year after year, this legislative body has come together to solve generational challenges
through even the most difficult years, including the recent passage of monumental
legislation to build a world class transit system, and incentivizing new energy sources to
make electricity more affordable.
In this Spring legislative session, we will need to harness that same ingenuity, urgency,
and commitment to overcome obstacles that would otherwise hinder real fiscal progress
for the state.
In that spirit, today I’m proud to once again present you with a balanced budget
proposal.
Seven times now, I have promised to propose and sign a balanced budget, and seven
times I have delivered on that promise. This year will be no different, despite how
challenging this eighth year’s budget is.
Prudence demanded that this year’s budget proposal seeks a discretionary spending
increase that is less than one half of one percent. It levels off and in some cases reduces
programs that are important to me – some of which were proposals of my own. But I
believe that the imperative of responsible governance and overcoming the fiscal
irresponsibility of past decades must come ahead of the interests of any one politician,
program, or party.
That doesn’t mean we can’t make transformative progress. We won’t let headwinds from
Washington stop us from addressing the fact that Illinoisans, like Americans
everywhere, are still paying too much for groceries, too much for housing, too much for
electricity, too much to live. Everything is just too damned expensive.
That’s why now more than ever, we must work together to make life more affordable for
Illinois’ working families. I propose an agenda to address the high cost of living that
makes life easier for the middle class and those striving to get there.
Let’s start with housing. The problem is clear – rent is too high and home ownership is
too far out of reach. The cause is clear, too. We are not building enough homes fast
enough. The Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois issued a
report last summer showing that we will need to build 227,000 more homes by 2030 to
keep up with demand.
In many places, local regulations have made it too difficult and costly to build new
housing. Some of the rules even have shameful roots that go back to the days of
redlining. Often, the problem is a failure to modernize and keep up with the changing
times we live in. It all adds up to bureaucratic red tape that unnecessarily increases
costs, delays construction, and frequently kills projects altogether.
For example, local parking mandates often require a uniform minimum number of
spaces for every new build – even in places where people don’t have cars because they
have ample public transit and available street parking. Unused parking spots add
millions of dollars in costs and severely limit the number of new units that can be built
affordably. Spaces for cars are being prioritized over spaces for people.
The great news is we have developers ready to build homes and Illinoisans who need
them – but it doesn’t get done because of these regulations. It’s on us to help fix it.
Today, I’m proud to announce the Building Up Illinois Developments or BUILD Plan –
an initiative to lower housing costs by making it easier, faster, and more cost-effective to
build homes in Illinois.
This is an ambitious slate of reforms designed to eliminate unnecessary barriers and
lower costs for housing construction, produce a wider range of family friendly housing
types, and streamline construction processes.
We will enable more unused housing units to be redeveloped and put into service. City
by city, town by town, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block – a little more
housing in each area can significantly advance our housing stock.
We’ll add to that a robust approach to closing financing gaps for developing housing of
all kinds – from targeted funds for smaller projects to direct support to local
communities so they can clear initial hurdles and make housing sites build-ready.
Focusing on affordable housing, the Next Generation Capacity Building Initiative is
designed to provide capital, training, and technical resources to allow more affordable
housing developers to access low-income tax credits in diverse communities.
Removing barriers for homebuilders will attract responsible developers to build inplaces they have been unwilling to.
Reduced regulation, greater financing options, a wider range of small units made
available for rent — we can add hundreds of thousands of homes in Illinois with this
creative approach. Illinois is up to the task — but it has to start now, here, with us.
Affording to have a home is one thing. Affording to live in it is quite another. Electricity
bills are eating up more and more of household budgets across the country, and that’s
got to stop.
We are fortunate in Illinois. With the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, we created an
energy credit program that is putting money back into the pockets of Illinois consumers.
That means this year families will receive $803 million in credits on their electricity
bills. That’s on top of the $1.3 billion in credits CEJA has already provided.
Over the long run, bringing down electricity bills requires producing and delivering
more energy for Illinois homes and businesses.
But let’s not ignore the fact that lowering electricity prices is truly a multi-faceted
challenge.
We need to think critically about our future energy usage with the needs of Illinois
households at the forefront. So, in the face of rising demand and surging prices, I’m
proposing a two year pause on authorization of new data center tax credits. With the
shifting energy landscape, it is imperative that our growth does not undermine
affordability and stability for our families.
There are also a massive number of new renewable energy projects awaiting
interconnection across the region that our Northern Illinois grid operator, PJM, has
moved too slowly to bring online. Together with a bipartisan coalition of all 13 governors
in the PJM region, I demanded they speed it up. And now they are. We also got a price
cap from PJM that will save consumers across the region $45 billion through the year 2030.
Finally, PJM must force data center developers to pay for capacity resources to
power their operations to protect consumers from higher rates.
Similarly, our central and southern Illinois grid operator, MISO, has a long waiting list
of projects, and they have agreed to bring those projects online.
Together, this will massively increase available power for Illinois homes and businesses.
But our work to lower energy prices can’t stop with PJM and MISO.
Illinois is already number one in clean nuclear energy production. That is a leadership
mantle we must hold onto. Producing even more energy is vital to keep up with
increasing demand and bring down prices.
A few months ago the General Assembly passed and I signed the Clean and Reliable
Grid Affordability Act which lifted a decades-long moratorium on new nuclear power in
Illinois. It opened the door to construction of new modern reactors that can help us keep
our energy leadership and create new jobs. And with CEJA already in place, many of
those jobs and contracts will go to people from communities that previously never had
the opportunity to benefit from the energy sector.
The economic opportunity of building new clean power is enormous, so today, I’ve
issued an executive order designed to speed up building new clean nuclear power so we
can increase our electricity supply and secure our energy future.
We can take years off the development and launch of new baseload energy production. It
sets a new nuclear energy framework for Illinois — one that prioritizes affordability,
safety, and reliability. Our state agencies have been ordered to immediately begin
working together and reaching out to local governments to identify sites for new
reactors. It will also advance the development of a state regulatory framework with
rigorous safety and siting standards.
My goal is delivering at least two gigawatts of new clean nuclear capacity in our state —enough to power up to two million Illinois homes.
For Illinois households and businesses, expanded supply will make electricity less
expensive, more reliable, and clean – while creating thousands of jobs and maintaining
our state’s status as a net energy exporter.
As we tackle the high costs Illinois families pay for energy and housing, we also need to
focus on the unaffordably high cost of healthcare.
A car accident. A cancer diagnosis. A life-threatening disease. Getting treated and
getting well shouldn’t be a lifelong burden on your finances and credit score. Two years
ago, the State of Illinois launched our historic medical debt relief program to unburden
working families who are sinking under the weight of overdue bills from an unexpected
illness.
Today, I’m proud to announce that, as of this week, we have negotiated the elimination
of $1 billion in medical debt for 520,000 Illinoisans across all 102 counties. We’re
providing immediate financial relief – and we’re doing it for pennies on the dollar. I’ve
proposed we continue this program this coming budget year.
Fighting for working families means attacking the bills that weigh people down in their
every day lives. The cost of healthcare in this country is ridiculously high, and while
President Trump’s budget makes it even more expensive, Illinois is standing up to
protect its people.
Another way to make life more affordable is by helping Illinoisans earn more. And one
of the most important determinants of earnings is getting a good education that leads to
a good paying job. Never has getting a post-secondary degree been more important –
but it’s historically been too damned expensive.
That’s why the majority in the General Assembly has worked with me since day one to
make college a realistic and more affordable pathway for all Illinoisans. How’s it going
so far?
Illinois now has the 2nd highest percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree among
the nation’s top ten most populous states, beating out states like California, Texas, and
Florida. Our public university enrollment has reached a 10 year high. And today, the
number of Illinois students attending our public universities tuition-free has reached an
all-time high of 44%.
Similarly our community colleges have surpassed the 2019 fall student count and have
seen steadily rising enrollments. Along with vocational training in high schools, this is
vital to our future. Attracting major job creators requires sustained investment in our
most valuable resource – our people. We have built a pipeline of qualified workers with
the skills and training to fill the high growth sectors of the future, but we still need more.
That is a path to a better life that should be available to every Illinoisan, and that doesn’t
require a university degree.
I propose we create our Vocational Training Grant Program – which will provide school
districts and regional vocational centers with support to build and expand specialized
workforce programs, like the proposed Southland Career and Technical Education
Center in Park Forest and the South Central Illinois Training and Innovation Center in
Litchfield. These partnerships forge higher paying career paths for high school students
while meeting the workforce needs of our employers. We have over 200,000 job
openings in Illinois. This legislative session, let’s explore every possible avenue to help
businesses fulfill their workforce demands and give high school students a path forward
to a good paying job.
Overall Illinois now consistently ranks among the top ten states in K through 12
education quality — and in higher education access. But even with Illinois’ high school
graduation rate at a 15-year high — and 8th grade reading and math scores among the
highest in the nation — we cannot take our foot off the gas in our efforts to equitably
fund our schools. Despite the challenging fiscal environment, my budget proposal for
this year prioritizes our state commitment to Evidence Based Funding and advances our
effort to hire more teachers.
I’m also proud to announce that entering its third year, our early childhood literacy
program in partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has quickly expanded
to 88 counties across Illinois. From the Austin neighborhood of Chicago to Pulaski
County in Southern Illinois, 97,000 children birth to five — regardless of their family
income — now receive free age-appropriate books in the mail every month. Reading
literacy starts at home, and this program is working to make it easier for parents to give
their kids a great start. For FY27, my budget proposal continues this program so we can
reach all 102 counties!
Helping parents give their children the best possible upbringing is among my highest
priorities as governor.
Everywhere I go, parents tell me one of their deepest concerns is the impact social
media is having on their kids. It’s a challenge unique to this generation. And it is made
worse by the perverse incentive that social media companies seem to have to keep kids
scrolling no matter what the cost to their physical and mental health.
There’s real harm being done, and it’s interfering with our ability to give children the
most productive educational environment possible. It’s time to get cell phones out of the
classroom. Working together, parents and teachers in school districts like Champaign,
Springfield, and Peoria prohibited cell phones in classrooms. 25 states including
Florida, California, Texas and New York have done this with bipartisan support, and it is
time for Illinois to follow suit.
But we can do more. I’m proposing the Children’s Social Media Safety Act — a
commonsense proposal to decrease the harmful effects of social media on kids, improve
their safety and privacy online, and prevent financial scamming of children.
This bill will put decisions about children’s online safety back into the hands of parentsby allowing them more easily to restrict their kids’ access on exploitative websites and
apps.
Social media algorithms have been proven to create mental health issues in adolescents
and foster polarization and misinformation in society as a whole. Those companies are
profiting from online engagement of Illinois consumers, and they currently contribute
nothing to ameliorate the negative effects of their platforms. So I propose a Social Media
Platform Fee that will generate $200 million per year to support K-12 education.
Parents and kids deserve to have better funded schools. If social media giants are going
to feed off of Illinois families, they ought to support Illinois families.
Our world is changing and it seems like, increasingly, the benefits of those changes are
reaped by a smaller and smaller group of people while middle and working class
Americans pay for it. Special interests and large corporations seem to delight in finding
ever more insidious ways to extract money from everyday people. Those same
companies then react with a mixture of surprise and outrage when they’re asked to reign
in their worst abuses.
Last year after Illinois’ insurance companies announced they’d be raising rates on
Illinois homeowners by double digits, I demanded to have those companies justify the
enormous rate increases. Every other state, except Illinois, has the power to do so.
Consumers deserve to have proof of why their premiums are increasing at a rate far
above inflation.
So today I’m calling on the House to pass HB 3799 that seeks from homeowners
insurance companies a justification for material premium increases, a bill that has
already been voted out of the Senate. Again, 49 other states have this reporting
requirement. Illinoisans deserve nothing less. 1.5 million Illinois households could see
their insurance bills go up by an average of $750 this year. For most homeowners, this is
nothing short of a crisis. And no one should claim that pursuing standard homeowner protections is an attack on business. This is about fairness and corporate responsibility
to consumers.
On a similar note, junk fees have crept into every aspect of people’s lives, imposed by
ticket sellers, rental companies, large tech companies, chain restaurants, and more.
They’re quietly nickel-and-diming Illinois families out of thousands of dollars per year.
This session, I’m supporting legislation to ban such practices by requiring upfront full
disclosure of all mandatory fees.
It’s about time for everyday Illinoisans to take control and get the relief they deserve.
I’m committed to doing everything government can to reign in the worst of the price
gouging and profiteering we are seeing. But I implore the titans of industry who
regularly ask government to make their lives easier – what are you doing to make your
employers’ and your customers’ lives easier? It’s a question I am committed to asking
every CEO who shows up in Springfield looking for help.
Before I became governor I had a long career in business and employed thousands of
people. The vast majority of business owners are good people who want to do right by
their employees, their communities and their customers. Right now, everyday people
are having trouble making ends meet, and we are all looking for ways to alleviate their
burden. So it’s time for every business to get in the game, step up to the plate, raise
wages and help lower the cost of living for Illinois families.
A year ago, I stood before you and asked a provocative question: After we have
discriminated against, disparaged and deported all our immigrant neighbors — and the
problems we started with still remained – what comes next?
Some of you walked out when I asked that question.
But a year later, we have an answer – don’t we? Masked, unaccountable federal agents
— with little training — occupied our streets, brutalized our people, tear gassed kids and
cops, kidnapped parents in front of their children, detained and arrested and at times
attempted to deport US citizens, and killed innocent Americans in the streets.
Illinois was the canary in the coal mine for what we saw happen in Minnesota.
It’s a playbook as old as the game – overwhelm communities, provoke fear, suggest that
those tasked with enforcing the law are also above it, and drip authoritarianism bit by
bit into our veins in the hopes that we won’t notice we are being poisoned by it.
The problem for Donald Trump and Stephen Miller was that Illinoisans did notice.
Last year was not the first time a President has tried to subdue the Illinois population
with hired thugs. In 1894, when the Pullman workers walked off their railroad jobs to
protest a 25% cut in their wages, President Grover Cleveland, who at the time was
serving the second of his two nonconsecutive terms, deputized 5,000 US Marshals and
ordered Federal Guard troops into Blue Island to end the strike. On July 3rd, 1894 –
those Marshals provoked a confrontation.
Police Superintendent Michael Brennan described the federalized marshals in this
manner: “They were dangerous to the lives of the citizens on account of their careless
use of pistols. They fired into the crowd of bystanders when there was no disturbance,
and no reason for shooting.” A report from the Chicago Record newspaper read, “In
regard to most of the deputy marshals, they seemed to be hunting trouble all the time.”
Sound familiar?
The strike fizzled after 25 people had been shot and killed and many more wounded.
But Governor Altgeld never forgot President Cleveland federalizing troops against
Illinoisans. Six months later when he delivered his message to the General Assembly,
Altgeld devoted fully half of those sixty pages to the events surrounding the Pullman
Strike. His anger at the federal government’s overreach jumps off the page even 131
years later:
“If the President can, at his pleasure, send troops into any city, town, or
hamlet…whenever and wherever he pleases, under pretense of enforcing some law — his
judgment, which means his pleasure being the sole criterion — then there can be no
difference whatever in this respect between the powers of the President and those
of…the Czar of Russia.”
If we have the courage to confront all of our past, it will inform a better future.
I have joked with many of you that I wish I could spend just one year of my
governorship presiding over precedented times. I yearn for normal problems. It was a
conversation I had more than once with my friend, the late Governor Jim Edgar. Jim
and I didn’t share the same political party, but we did share something far more
important – a fierce love of our country, and our state.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about love – about loving people and loving your country
and the power involved in both.
Love is an affliction – it is the most fortifying of our emotions and the most debilitating.
It refuses to ground itself in logic or reason. Its very existence enriches us even though
its presence always creates chaos in our lives. Love is a superpower – it teaches the
brittle to bend, it shows the selfish how to share, it grants courage to the coward.
Once sparked, love becomes momentum. It’s the sled gathering speed down the hill, it’s
the drop of water as it tips over the falls, it’s glitter out of a bottle.
The bravest thing any of us will ever do in this life is to love without promise of
reciprocation. Because love’s ferocity does not dim with rejection. Try to banish love to a
shadow and it will only reach harder for the sun.
I know, right now, there are a lot of people out there who love their country and feel like
their country is not loving them back. I know that.
I also know that love unrequited can break a heart made fragile by dashed hope.
Which is why it’s important for me to stand before you today and tell you that your
country is loving you back – just not in the way you are used to hearing.
It’s not speaking in anthems or flags or ostentatious displays of patriotism. It will never
come from the people who say the only way to love America is to hate Americans.
Love is found in every act of courage – large and small – taken to preserve the country
we once knew. You will find it in homes and schools and churches and art. It is there; it
has not been squashed.
Over the last 12 months, I’ve heard love start to shout here in Illinois. I heard it from the
bicyclers who showed up in Little Village every day during Operation Midway Blitz to
buy out tamale carts so the vendors could return to the safety of their homes. I heard it
from the parishioners who formed human chains around churches so that immigrants
could worship. I heard it from the moms in the school pick up line who whipped out
their cameras and their whistles. I saw it in the face of every Midwesterner who put on
their heaviest coat and protested outside on the coldest day.
I am begging my fellow politicians, my fellow Illinoisans, my fellow Americans to realize
that right now in this country we are not fighting over policy or political party. We are
fighting over whether we are going to be a civilization rooted in empathy and kindness
— or one rooted in cruelty and rage.
What you choose to arm yourself with in this fight – love or hate – exposes which side
you are fighting on. Only the weakest of people believe that love is the weakest of
weapons.
And it turns out that love actually is all around – and that those who think that cruelty
can destroy it, are incapable of understanding the power of a nation moved by it.
I love my country. I refuse to stop. The hope I have found in a very difficult year is that
love is the light that gets you through a long night.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the great state of Illinois.
