Chicago City Wire

GOP activist Jeffrey Carter is advocating for Black voters to vote for politician over party. 

The comments come as many in the Black community have noted their support for GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey over Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 

“What has the Democratic Party in Illinois done for minority voters? They are against the very issues that give minority voters access and hope,” Carter told Chicago City Wire. “Democrats have run the city of Chicago for 100 years. What has it gotten minority voters?” 

Carter noted a number of concerns including Democrats being against school vouchers and school choice and approving high hurdle rates and expensive licensing to start new businesses. He also cited "Democrats were for defunding the police and turning convicted felons loose on the streets making neighborhoods dangerous • Democrats have done nothing to solve the gang problem in inner cities • Democrats are for raising taxes and growing the size of government • Democrats will not solve the pension crisis in Illinois, and only add to the problem • Democrats raise property taxes, and pass bills that make more raises automatic • Democrats discriminated against minorities and gave out cannabis licenses to cronies • Democrats continue to run crooked and corrupt government schemes and get indicted and serve time in jail.” 

“Minority voters ought to pull the lever for Republicans in Illinois and give them a chance," Carter stated. "They can’t do any worse than they are doing now.” 

Carter also dubbed Pritzker "a billionaire that used his connections to flaunt property tax laws prior to his election and avoided Covid restrictions by sending his family out of state to Florida.” 

“Pritzker used those restrictions to crack down on businesses and people that didn’t toe the hard left political line,” Carter said.

The governor almost made the Black community dumbfounded when he left Black entrepreneurs out of lucrative state licenses for recreational marijuana facilities. The continued schism between him and the state’s black community is getting wider and more significant as around a third of the Democrat vote comes from the black community. Former ABC 7 reporter Charles Thomas said Democrats have been disrespecting the Black community for years by providing awful public services and passing over local politicians and businessmen. Thomas, who was featured in an ad by the People Who Play By the Rules PAC which opposes Pritzker, criticized those who voted for Pritzker solely because he is a Democrat. “(Pritzker) out of whole cloth created a brand new industry, this cannabis industry, and he said there would be equity. Those are his words, equity. In other words, we were going to get 15 to 20 percent of all this business, which is a multibillion-dollar business, now. We got nothing,” Thomas said on The Brunch Brunch On 1390.

The issue is one of many the Black politicians have brought up throughout the campaign season. The issue was central to the campaign of primary opponent Beverly Miles who said despite the toll the War on Drugs took on the Black community, Pritzker gave recreational marijuana licenses in those communities to “rich white people,” cutting out the Black community from the coveted business licenses, creating rancor in the community.

That sentiment has been noted by others. “Governor Pritzker for four years, 'equity, equity, equity.' And he finally had his opportunity with the recreational marijuana dispensaries and he failed again. I'm out in the black community –you probably saw me on Facebook a few weeks ago since you saw everything else – when I was walking with the black community up and down the streets of Chicago and they were screaming foul because they can't get the licenses,” Bailey said at the Oct. 18 debate. The comment came after WGN news anchor and debate moderator Tahman Bradley asked Pritzker why the Black community had been left out of the process. “Let's talk about equity and recreational use cannabis. The state's program went online in 2020. The first predominantly Black-owned craft grow house recently opened in the state. But Governor, since 2020, more than 340 licenses have been given out and only one has been given to a minority owner. Governor. When will you make good on your promise to diversify the lucrative cannabis industry?” Bradley asked.

In a recorded phone call by the FBI, Pritzker was heard discussing with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich which black candidates were “least offensive” before discussing then-Secretary of State Jesse White. The conversation was one of a series in which Pritzker schemed with Blagojevich on an appointment to public office. The two also joked about former president Barack Obama’s mixed-race background. "You can argue he's, you know, he's got a lot in common with Obama, he's black and white. Ha. How stupid is that?" Blagojevich said. Pritzker can be heard chuckling on the audio. "That's good," Pritzker said praising Blagojevich for the racial joke. "That's good.” He also is heard reassuring Blagojevich, “You don’t have to put an African-American in that spot” if he were to appoint Jesse White, WTTW reported. Blagojevich was later sentenced to 14 years in prison and Pritzker leveraged his massive personal fortune to become governor.