Illinois Governor Says Trump Will 100% Try To 'Steal' 2026 Election

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is among his fellow Democrats who believe President Donald Trump will try and “steal” the 2026 election.

After the sports commentator asked Pritzker why he thinks Trump is repositioning federal workers from agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to work in agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Pritzker launched into a theory that Trump will try to “seize the ballot boxes” using military force.

“I will tell you what my theory is about this,” Pritzker began. “And I believe I’m right, which is ... because he’s talked about this for some time. Let’s go back to 2020 when he said that the election was stolen from him. It wasn’t.”

Pritzker argued that it was [Trump’s former U.S. national security adviser] Michael Flynn that gave the president the idea to “seize the ballot boxes with the military.”

“And [Trump] repeated it, that maybe they should just seize the ballot boxes with the military. Maybe they should go to where there’s ballot boxes and then they should count the votes themselves,” he continued.

Pritzker went on to declare that now in 2025, Trump is “becoming more unpopular,” and the political leader will try to use military force because he’s “likely to lose the 2026 elections.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and President Donald Trump have had a tense relationship their entire political careers.

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“He’s sending troops into American cities and particularly in blue states, in blue cities, to put them on the ground, get us used to the idea of having military on the ground,” he added. “I believe because he then will say, ‘Well, I’m going to go protect our polling places in Illinois.’ And then if he is losing the elections, meaning the Congress, he will, frankly, just seize the ballot boxes.”

Smith then asked Pritzker to clarify if he was asserting that Trump is “going to try to steal an election.”

“Is that what you’re saying?” the ESPN host questioned.

“Oh, this is a guy who tried to steal the election back in 2020, and he would do it again,” Pritzker replied. “Yeah, I think he’s proven that he’s willing to do that.”

Meanwhile, Trump has boasted that Pritzker should “beg” him for help cracking down on crime in Chicago.

“I think he should beg for help, because he’s running a bad operation, and he’s letting people be killed in his city,” Trump said. “I love Chicago. Chicago can be a great city again, and very quickly, I would have Chicago cleaned out and criminals removed. Pritzker should ask me to do it.”

Watch Pritzker’s appearance on “Straight Shooter” below.