Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Deems DeSantis 'a Dangerous and Xenophobic Authoritarian'

Illinois’ Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker is extremely unhappy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) planned visit to his state, deeming the governor as someone who is “homophobic” with “tendencies to promote racism.”

DeSantis is expected to visit Elmhurst, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — this week as part of his pro-police tour, visiting blue jurisdictions across the country dealing with violent crime, including New York City and Philadelphia. According to reports, Chicago Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is promoting an event titled “Law and Order Illinois,” which will feature DeSantis as a speaker.

DeSantis has long established Florida as a “law and order” state while blue states and localities called to defund the police. In the past few years, DeSantis signed an “anti-riot” measure, upped recruitment efforts for police officers — which includes bonuses — and took on woke prosecutors who he believes are worsening crime by refusing to enforce the law.

However, Pritzker does not believe DeSantis has a place in his crime-ridden state.

“Well he doesn’t represent the values of the people in Illinois,” Pritzker said of DeSantis. “In fact, he is the antithesis of that. He’s demonstrated that he’s homophobic, that he has tendencies to promote racism.”

It remains unclear what Pritzker is referring to specifically, although the DeSantis administration has taken on the transgender agenda and gender ideology being pushed onto children, as well as woke history and the promotion of Critical Race Theory (CRT), triggering far-leftists nationwide.

Pritzker also called on mayoral candidate Paul Vallas to condemn the FOP, which has endorsed him, for inviting DeSantis. Vallas has done just that, calling the Florida governor a “right-wing extremist.”

“DeSantis’ record of trying to erase the LGBTQ community, banning books on Black history and much more is not in line with my values, the values of our community, or the values of the rank and file police officers who I believe have no interest in getting swept up in culture wars and national Republican Party politics,” Vallas said.

Chuy Garcia, another Chicago mayoral candidate, went a step further, describing DeSantis as a “dangerous and xenophobic authoritarian to our state.”

“In Florida, Ron DeSantis has banned books, pushed a homophobic and anti-trans agenda, and questioned the integrity of our elections,” Garcia added.

Chicago, meanwhile, kicked off the new year with crime continuing to rise as a dancing Mayor Lori Lightfoot gleefully attended a parade amid her record of thousands of people being shot throughout her tenure:

At least 11 individuals were shot in Chicago this weekend alone.