>> thanks for joining us on Chicago Brandis Friedman.

Here's what we're looking at.

>> good to see you.

Thanks for making the time that.

>> A conversation with Governor Pritzker on Juliana Stratton.

Big win last night.

The money in politics and much more.

City Council reverses course moving to end to phase out of the tipped minimum wage.

But will Mayor Johnson veto it?

And Pat Hynes wins the Democratic nomination for Cook County Assessor.

He joins us.

>> First off tonight, Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin took questions from his fellow senators today during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.

He's President Trump's pick to replace Christie Noem as Homeland Security secretary who oversaw federal immigration raids in cities across the country.

>> You call Alex pretty, quote, a deranged individual that came into cause max damage.

Could we expect those kinds of quick if you are confirmed as secretary, would you be basically where did you respond to that secretary number?

We're going to just expect that same behavior all over again.

No, senator, I have a deep amount of respect for you.

>> We've had our differences, but I do respect you.

I think I said this privately when we had a conversation those words probably should have been retracted.

I should have said that.

>> Mullen told members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that he would be a steady hand at the department if confirmed, signaling he'd maintain the president's hardline stance on immigration, but he faced some pushback and some testy exchanges over the partial government shutdown of that department that has left some DHS workers on the job without pay.

Just when you thought elections were over Chicago public schools, staff, parents and community members are back at the ballot box today to elect their local school councils.

Voting began this morning and closes.

Yeah in about an hour and a half, let's seize are made up of parents, school staff and community members as well as student can didn't in 7th grade and above they're responsible for approving how school funds are spent developing their schools improvement plan and hiring and evaluating their school's principal.

Most members serve two-year terms except for students who served one year terms.

Up next.

Governor Pritzker talks last night's election results and more.

That's right after this.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part why the Alexander and John Nichols family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support of these donors.

>> Just over an hour ago, our Nic Blumberg sat down with Governor JB Pritzker and his running mate Christian Mitchell at the Hilton.

Chicago.

They talked about yesterday's election results and looked ahead to the upcoming general election campaign.

Nick began by asking the governor how he feels about a rematch with Republican Darren Bailey.

>> I am.

I've been traveling the state, of course, for 9 years since I started running 2 terms ago and and believe strongly that we've got act like and take care of Illinois like it's one state gets one, Illinois, lot of interest.

A lot of concerns across the state.

If you're a farmer, Donald Trump's tariffs are tearing your farm apart and frankly bankrupting people.

If you're a retailer, the fact that we've got a challenge importing to this country because of Donald Trump's policies is tearing the country apart and making your life more miserable, taking health care away from families and making it more expensive.

That's something we've got to push back on.

And again, these are challenges that people face sometimes Alexander County, sometimes in the coupe in county, sometimes Rock Island County, Orr in Cook County.

We have real challenges.

And I think whoever the governor is at any time in our history has to be somebody that can understand the challenges of the entire state of Illinois.

As you know, Darren Bailey has called Chicago a hellhole.

And although he would like now to change his messaging, he has not changed.

Is on anything?

He still aligns himself with Donald Trump still thinks it's OK to take away people's health care still thinks we ought to lower the minimum wage in the state of Illinois.

So I have to say that what he is proposing to do.

Forget about how he wants to change is messages.

What he is proposing to do is bad for the people of our state and JB.

And I both believe you've got to show up for people in.

You've got to go everywhere to meet them again.

Just in the past couple weeks have been Woodford County Crawford County.

I've been to a bunch of other counties across the state.

Yes, we're both from Chicago, but I as a state representative always at the state in my title.

>> Very seriously.

When I talk to people there concerned about the price of beef, the price of eggs, the price of fuel.

Now that we're in another entanglement in the Middle East and they want leaders who are going to stand up for them, lower their costs, raise their wages.

When I talk to folks who represent rural hospitals that deeply concerned about the cuts in the big ugly bill and what that's going to mean for their neighborhoods.

And so when myself and JB talk to these folks, they want people who are going to fight for them and create solutions.

Been a really care where they're from.

>> Governor, you gave your enthusiastic support to the current Lieutenant Governor.

Juliana Stratton had a big night last night.

You faced questions from some within your party, though, including the Congressional Black Caucus about getting involved in a contested Senate primary, giving concerns about mending fences.

Now that the primaries behind us.

>> You know, I get it.

Primaries are tough in people, Democrats take sides in primaries, even though basically we all agree on the issues and there were people who supported Robin Kelly who are in the Congressional Black Caucus.

They wanted her to win.

They would have preferred if I had supported her.

You know what?

Julianna Stratton was the best person for the job.

I've known her for 9 years where not only friends, but I trust her to fight for the people of the state of Illinois.

She's a genuine person.

And I believe that's very important in this environment that we're in.

so I chose to support her and were all going to come back together to after the primary.

This is what Democrats do.

We unite.

The Republicans do not.

And I think we're seeing that today at their what they're calling a unity breakfast turned out not to be so unified.

>> This is the most significant turnover we've seen in the Illinois delegation in many years.

Are you confident the state will still be well represented on Capitol Hill with more junior members of the delegation?

>> You know, the only challenge about having more junior members is you lose the seniority that sometimes gets more immediately.

A chairmanship of a committee which can be very beneficial for state.

Meanwhile, you know what?

We need more young people and younger people representing us in Washington.

Some of the absolute best ideas for our state come from a younger generation and particularly young people show.

I'm I'm pleased that, you know, there's some turnover.

I think we all agree that, you know, that that at some point in people's lives, you know, they don't need to stay in Congress.

So the fact that we had a number of retirements people vacating their offices and there are new people running, I think invigorates the state and brings those new generation messages to Washington on our behalf.

Obviously a very contested primary here.

You know, a lot of Democrats worry about the millions that.

>> You corporations, special interests spend on elections, including can can weaken democracy.

U, of course, contributed to a super PAC that supported Lieutenant Governor Stratton.

Does that at all complicate your own efforts to protect democracy is has been one of your big message.

Is this last?

You know, my complaint about all the money that came in and those campaigns is that special interests.

>> That had a profit motive or some peculiar specific issue that they were trying to drive into a campaign that they're they're getting all of the oxygen in the room, so to speak.

Instead of like the whole person.

Is that the right person for the job?

Will they consider things in the way that I hope that they will?

Can we trust them?

That doesn't get shouldn't get determined anyway by special interests.

I support candidates that I believe will be best for the state and I think that we had to get the corporate money out.

I think we get a stop citizens United.

I think we ought to stop all the special interests and instead it ought to be about individual supporting other individuals.

Mr.

Mitchell should.

The governor leave office for any reason, including perhaps higher office?

>> You would take over as Governor de feel prepared for that challenge.

governor's always said the most important part of being Lieutenant Governor is being someone who could step in and be governor if something were to happen.

That was true of Julianna Stratton is not going to be a terrific U.S.

Senator.

>> I believe it's true of me.

I service deputy governor for 4 and a half years.

I ran a series of very complicate agencies like department Transportation, Department of Correction, our public safety portfolio, including our National Guard State Police Emergency management.

So I believe by the experience to the job, if necessary.

But most importantly, I plan to be his partner.

He laid out a very comprehensive agenda yesterday about lowering the cost of housing lowering overall costs for people in everything from energy to health care, making sure that people get the care that they need.

That's the agenda that I believe in.

That's why I wanted to join the ticket why I'm so upset about the Lieutenant Governor.

When you mention National Guard, you yourself serving the Illinois Air National Guard.

We've seen the president attempt to nationalize state controlled troops, launched a war on Iran without congressional authorization.

>> Do you believe that Congress is currently living up to its responsibility to authorize or curve military action?

Think one of the most important things and I think about this, a great deal now is somebody who's the captain, the National Guard to judge advocate who believes in the rule of law learned about it, but also who serves in a wing that is deployed folks to the Middle East.

I think the Congress has an incredibly important oversight role that they need to make sure that >> the president coming for than explaining the mission, making sure that our men and women that we send off in harm's way have all they need to come home safe and be able to do what we need them to do it with.

They can explain to the American people.

I don't know the Congress is doing that right now.

And I really hope that they will.

>> And by the way, that only Congress has the ability to declare war, not the president, the United States.

This has not been brought to the president should have brought it to the Congress.

Never did didn't do it once and oh, by the way, now are entangled in something it appears we are going to have very difficult time getting out of governor had the opportunity to speak with the mayor of Hammond, Indiana, on Monday who says any stadium deal that the Bears would get in Indiana is superior to what they would get here.

>> can.

Illinois compete with these major incentives that Indiana's considering that ship, that business would have to reside in Indiana.

That's the big problem for that.

For the Look, the fans of the Chicago Bears do not want them to leave the state of Illinois and I think they would lose.

Those are customers.

Those fans right?

>> We are customers.

If they leave the state, they will lose their customers.

I'm telling you now, no one wants to go to Hammond, Indiana to watch a game.

We want them to stay in the state of Illinois and we want them to be the Chicago Bears.

We believe in the team.

But if they're going abandon I think the fans are going to abandon that.

Meanwhile, he's wrong.

He doesn't have any idea what's been put on the table for the Chicago Bears and staying in the state of Illinois actually a huge advantage for the Chicago Bears.

Put aside that they won't lose their fans.

We are providing them significant infrastructure, which is what we would do for another business that's investing billions of dollars in our state.

We're making sure that we have the opportunity to create jobs in that area and that their things will be paid for that are helping local communities again, what is in Hammond, Indiana?

I don't think people want to be in an industrial site next to a big old manufacturing plant that's spewing things into the air.

You got to smell rotten eggs.

If you go to a game in Hammond, Indiana.

So I think the Bears know that the best place for them is the state of Illinois.

I think the bill that's going through the legislature right now is one that they support.

And I know we're just about out of time.

But it is a rarity for an Illinois governor to be elected to a 3rd term.

Are you feeling confident about your chances there?

Well, I should tell you that that I learned recently no Democrat has served 2 full terms in the governorship in so just finishing a second term would be a record in the state are Markle.

Yeah, well, I haven't gotten their yeah.

We've got a little left in this year.

But but look, my my goal isn't to set a record made.

My goal on the other hand to make sure that we're actually following through and completing some of the work that we've already done.

Balancing the budget and getting credit upgrades is a big deal for the state.

We're saving money for taxpayers.

We're being more responsible paying down debt for the state.

And if those things sound boring, too.

Well, just remember the hundreds of millions of dollars each year that we're saving as a result of being more fiscally responsible is inuring to the benefit of taxpayers were able to do more for them or provide them tax cuts like I have the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit.

The cut in the in fact, the elimination of the grocery tax in the state.

We're going to continue to make those kinds of changes to lower costs average people.

And I your question, you know how what kind of chance we see in this race?

We're going to run really hard.

And I think that ultimately.

>> It's going to be a choice for the people of Illinois.

You want somebody wants to rule the red carpet out for Donald Trump focused on lowering wages and taking a woman's right to choose or do you want the team that is going to continue to work to lower your costs, make health care more accessible, continue to build the infrastructure that attracts business.

Continue to improve our schools.

That's what JB and I are going to offer as governor Lieutenant Governor.

And we think that's going winning message.

Governor Pritzker, Mister Mitchell, thank you both very much for your time.

Thank And brandis.

Back to you.

Nick, thank you.

Tomorrow night we'll have a live conversation with Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey right here in our studio.

>> Charlotte City Council members are reversing course on a 2023 vote to phase out the tipped minimum wage.

The move would scuttle one of Mayor Brandon Johnson's major legislative accomplishments.

The mayor called today's vote shameful and promises to veto it.

At some point.

>> Doug will stop picking on black and brown women.

And if I got a veto something make sure that black and brown women are protected.

Then the do it is.

>> W t Tw News reporter Heather Sharon joins us now with more.

Heather nearly 2 and a half years ago the mayor's push to end that hit minimum wage passed the City Council by an overwhelming margin.

What happened?

Well, it has long been a source of great consternation for the Illinois Restaurant Association which says that it is making it incredibly difficult for restaurants to keep their doors open in Chicago.

>> And keep employing people.

They were able to convince a majority of the city council that this is what needs to change to that restaurants can keep their doors open because right now, if you're a tipped worker, you earn $4 less than the minimum wage in Chicago, which is 6.16, hour that is supposed to end by 2028 when everybody gets paid, whatever the minimum wages and it's tied to inflation, they say that will make it impossible to keep food flowing through Chicago's restaurant kitchens, but supporters of ending the tipped minimum wage say it has not hurt businesses.

That's right.

So the mayor and city officials say Chicago's restaurant industry is doing just fine.

They say there has been a number of new business licenses.

Paul Dan, that restaurants are renewing those licenses for existing eateries at a normal rate.

They also say that is not fair to make workers.

Some of Chicago's poorest bear, the burden of sort of these increased costs, especially at a time where we've seen a historic increase in cost of gas and other cost of living.

Also, the mayor says that the tipped wage will hurt black and Latina women the hardest.

He says he's not going to stand So we just heard the mayor, of course, he's vowing to not allow one of his major latest legislative accomplishments be rolled back.

What happens now?

Well, it will take 34 votes of the city council to override this expected veto.

It's unclear whether supporters of this tipped minimum wage rollback confined to those votes.

We will see once he does issue that veto, it will be his 3rd since July 2025. unprecedented number of sort of rejections of what the city council's tried to do.

okay.

Separately City Council also voted to expand the power of the civilian Office of Police Accountability, Copa, what change?

And they now have the power to investigate allegations that the Chicago Police Department has violated the city ban on helping federal immigration enforcement agents carry out civil actions.

This has been a source of great consternation and as this all erupted in the fall, city officials realized it wasn't clear who have the authority to enforce the welcoming city ordinance.

The city council said today unanimously after a brief debate that it should because it's come back, OK, had a Sharon, thanks again for Thanks.

Brandis.

And you can read his full story on our website.

It's all a W t tw dot com slash news.

>> Lyons Township Assessor, Pat Hynes Reign victorious.

This primary election cycle beating out incumbent Fritz KD for the Democratic seat for Cook County Assessor with just over 52% of the vote.

Heinz goes on to run in November's general election.

He ran his campaign on improving accuracy to property assessments, restoring trust and building economic development.

And here to reflect on last night's winning layup, the future of his campaign.

It's Democratic candidate, the Cook County for Cook County Assessor.

Pat Hynes.

Welcome.

Congrats on your win last night.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure to be So what do you think it was about your campaign that resonated with voters?

You know, I think that there's an abject frustration with the way property taxes are going right now in Cook County.

Couple up with our authenticity.

>> You know, we we work very hard to communicate with as many voters as possible.

And I think the fact that I've had 30 years of experience, I could speak to what we plan to do.

And I think that that authenticity really resonated with the voters.

We talked >> For those who may not understand not everybody gets the ins and outs of what the assessor does.

They just know they've got to some tax give us the simple explanation of that office.

Please.

in the city of Chicago, we've got about 8.9 billion dollars property tax suburbs, a little over 9 billion that we have to divide among the property tax payers.

And so the role of the county assessor is too.

>> Have a fair and equitable distribution of that pardon.

The burden remains relatively fixed.

And so our job is to value every property in the district and figure out the way divvy up that burden.

According to the market value of every property.

>> So briefly, if you kind of help us understand how you us through how assessments for property taxes are made.

And I should reference, you know, that you work with several other ordered.

The assessor's office works with several other elected bodies, treasure aboard a review.

Of course, the county board and Cook County Board president.

So you campaigned on the argument that the current assessor, Fritz Kagy was incompetent for the job that his office's data was old and riddled with errors resulting in skyrocketing bills for homeowners.

One of the fixes that you plan to implement.

Well, number one is cleaning up that data.

So you have to have a good handle on what the built environment is in this county.

If you're gonna produce inaccurate assessment.

>> And we just don't have that right now.

So he took a random sample of 100 residential property descriptions in your community walked the neighborhood and actually looked at what was built on each of those parcels.

The data firm up, many of them simply wouldn't match.

And you can't have that kind of error rate in your underlying data.

If you plan to produce an assessment that's credible.

>> What your property owners, both residential and commercial, what you'd expect they should expect an awful lot less volatility.

And so when you have the data, that's that's not accurate.

You change bricks.

You get a result.

That's all over the board.

And that's the experience the tax payers have had the last 8 years.

Is that?

They have wild swings in their assessment.

Wild swings in the result and property tax burden yet they haven't had wild swings in appreciation of their property to match the wild swings in the value.

And that's that's why tax payers are really frustrated for check what's happening right now and as boring as it is, it's really important to get the data right to get the assessment, right?

Because we do have an outsize influence on our local economy.

Absolutely.

so for keiki, he says that he hopes that you will protect some of the reforms that he says he implemented during his 2 terms.

>> He says he fought to ensure bigger commercial properties and luxury homes were assessed at what they're worth.

He says cleaned up, pay to play corruption and expanded property tax relief programs as well as increasing the number of homeowners who are receiving exemptions.

Is there anything that you would keep from his term going into yours if elected?

Sure.

I mean, we would we would keep our outreach.

We keep making sure that people get the exemptions that they're entitled >> We're gonna make sure that we assess all the properties that are built.

You know, he claims that made sure that mentions pay their fair share.

It's kind of hard to make that claim.

If you have mansions that are built that are still being assessed as vacant.

Lots.

The errors that correct.

We have we have lists of of hundreds of properties that have been built.

So for a million dollars and then we're taxed as if there was a vacant lot.

So missing the House entirely.

So we're gonna make sure that we capture the change in the built environment here in Cook County, using the permit data that we get using the aerial photographs that we get to make sure that all new property is added to the tax rolls and contributes to the to the burden that we all have to share.

How should the county and all of these bodies that we mentioned earlier, sort of balance that tax burden.

>> Across commercial properties and residential owners wind, you know, commercial properties maybe aren't all worth what they used to be if they're not being used quite as Well, I think we should follow the law.

You right now and in the county ordinance, commercial tax payers pay 2 and a half times the amount that residential taxpayer will pay and the law says that were supposed to assess it according to its market value as of January.

First of the tax year in question.

And while it may be inconvenient, if a commercial property has lost its value, is it is what it is.

You have to assess it accordingly.

The same goes for residential.

So, you know, we have to capture value.

According to the law.

We have to do the the property tax burden according to the law and we need do it in a way that's predictable so that our tax payers are finding surprises there.

That.

Having problems bearing that burden because, you know, frankly, in Illinois, the property tax burden is robust.

And we do have to make sure that we are.

Putting our homeowners out of their homes.

We're not pushing our small business owners out of their businesses and, you know, volatility does that people What's next?

got little bit of a break before or are you taking a little bit of a break?

Obviously November is some months away.

You'll be running against Libertarian opponent, Nico stats, Willis.

>> No Republican has filed to run for the seat.

So what's next for you in these few months will take a little bit of a break and reset, but we'll be back out.

There will be communicating with the taxpayers with the voters.

we're gonna make sure that we're successful November.

>> So that we're well positioned in December to bring justice to our taxpayers to bring some sanity back and remove a lot of that volatility that's been frustrating.

Our tax payers for too long.

Okay.

Pat Hynes, congrats again on your primary when we'll see you in November.

Wonderful.

Thank you for having Thank you.

>> And that is our show for this Wednesday night.

Stay connected with our reporters and what they're working on by following us on Instagram at W T Tw Chicago and join us tomorrow night at 5, 30 10 now for all of us here Chicago greatest Friedman, thank you for watching.

Stay healthy and safe.

>> We have a good night.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law offices Chicago, personal injury and wrongful death with more than 40 years