Illinois governor caught on hot mic expressing fear over state of Biden’s race: ‘I don’t like where we are’
A hot mic apparently caught Governor J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., worrying about the state of the presidential race this week.
As reported by CBS News Chicago, Pritzker was overheard at a recent crime fighting event telling someone that he was not pleased with the way President Biden’s campaign was going in the weeks following his debate performance against former President Trump.
"You gotta do what we have to do. I don’t like where we are," Pritzker could be heard saying in a private conversation at the Illinois event.
The hot mic also caught the governor adding, "We’re just going to keep fighting. I don’t know what to say."
The local news outlet reached out to the governor’s office to get some context for Pritzker’s quote, reporting that Pritzker’s deputy chief of communications Jordan Abudayyeh said it "sounds like [Pritzker] was talking about the state of the presidential race."
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s office to confirm if Priztker was talking about the Democrat Party’s current situation with Biden at the top of the presidential ticket, though did not immediately receive a response.
If he was, the governor’s quote represents a wave of uncertainty in the party regarding Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November that has been growing since Biden’s disastrous debate.
Multiple Democratic lawmakers, liberal pundits, and more recently, major Hollywood Biden donors, have demanded that Biden abandon his re-election bid, pointing to his performance last month as evidence he can’t win in November.
Recently, liberal actor George Clooney, who threw a massive Hollywood fundraiser for Biden less than a month ago, wrote a New York Times guest essay calling on Biden to exit the presidential race.
Another pro-Biden actor, Michael Douglas, said on "The View" Wednesday he is "concerned" that Biden might not be able to win this "crucial" election.
Despite the turmoil surrounding Biden’s bid, Pritzker has defended the president from calls within the party that he step down.
A local Fox affiliate quoted the governor earlier this week, saying, "Joe Biden is our nominee. I am for Joe Biden. I’ve been campaigning for Joe Biden."
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The governor admitted that Biden’s debate performance was poor, though he offered the president’s team advice on how to shore up support following the debacle.
"I think obviously the President had a bad performance in the debate," he said. "That doesn’t help anybody. He knows that, and what you have to do is stand up say, ‘I didn’t do it well,’ which I think he said, and prove people wrong about what they want to say about it. And he’s doing that."