Republican governor candidate Ted Dabrowski on Tuesday defended a new TV ad in which he compares Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s actions to the Stalinist leadership of 1960s Poland and turmoil in Ecuador that led to a military coup.
“In 1960, my parents immigrated to Chicago, Dad from communist Poland, Mom from Ecuador. They came here for a better life. Today, politicians like JB Pritzker are behaving just like those politicians my parents fled,” Dabrowski said in the ad, which was aired after the third quarter of Sunday’s Chicago Bears game.
Poland was run by allies of Soviet leader Josef Stalin who were known for their authoritarian rule, including Boleslaw Bierut, who, through 1956, headed a secret police responsible for the deaths of thousands. Another Polish leader at the time, Wladyslaw Gomulka, oversaw the persecution of the Catholic Church and anti-communist opposition. At the same time, Ecuador’s populist government grew increasingly unstable, leading to a 1963 military coup.
But Dabrowski said his commercial was not referencing political ideology. Rather, he was referring to his parents having “fled for opportunity and freedom,” he said. “And in Illinois, people are fleeing for, in some cases, freedom, some for opportunity. They can’t make it work here” and leave the state.
Still, Dabrowski was critical of Pritzker’s comparisons of Donald Trump’s presidency to 1930s Nazi Germany and the governor’s description of aggressive enforcement by federal immigration agents as acting like “storm troopers.” Dabrowski blamed Pritzker for stirring up “chaos” among those protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection actions during Operation Midway Blitz.
Dabrowski’s comments came after a wide-ranging meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, where he labeled Illinois “an extreme state on so many things — culturally and fiscally” while he tried to avoid discussing controversies surrounding Trump’s call for taking over Greenland and his use of tariffs on foreign goods.
“I am a huge supporter of many things that Trump has done. Controlling the border has been key. Trying to bring back manufacturing is so important, especially in Illinois,” he said, also citing the president’s backing of school choice and “safe cities.”
“So, there’s a lot of things that I think he’s doing great. His geopolitics, we have to figure out where they play out,” he said, describing himself as in support of “free markets” that contrast with a tough tariff policy. But he said Trump is always negotiating and using “leverage” and that he’s “using the power of America, the power of leverage” to get much better deals. Dabrowski pushed back on editorial board members for focusing on national issues despite their impacts on Chicago and Illinois.
“With all due respect, I don’t disagree with you on how important those things are,” he said, adding he was appearing at the meeting to discuss Pritzker. “And I can’t change Trump’s policies, but I sure as hell, heck, can change Pritzker’s.”
Dabrowski, a Wilmette resident and the former president of the conservative policy advocacy group Wirepoints, is one of four major candidates seeking the March 17 Republican nomination for governor to challenge Pritzker, a two-term incumbent. Others in the field include unsuccessful 2022 GOP nominee Darren Bailey, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and real estate and gambling tycoon Rick Heidner.
Dabrowski took a shot at Bailey, a farmer and former state lawmaker from downstate Louisville, who has gained traction in his current run largely on name recognition from his 2022 bid. Dabrowski contended that Bailey’s 13 percentage point loss to Pritzker four years ago was in part due to his failure to connect with Cook County voters.
“So the big difference between me and him — right off the bat — is I’m from Cook County, my running mate’s from Cook County, we’re professionals. I think we know how to, what’s the right word, operate and work with people in Cook County and the suburbs,” Dabrowski said of himself and running mate Carrie Mendoza of Glencoe. “I don’t think Darren understood how to handle or understands how to handle up here. He’s a farmer, and I respect farmers. I value the heck out of farmers, but I don’t think he knew how to operate here.”
Asked by the editorial board what programs that go against conservative Republican orthodoxy he could support to attract Democrats and independent voters, Dabrowski said he believed his agenda, touting traditional GOP issues of lower taxes and business growth, along with opposition to diversity and equity and transgender programs in public schools, resonated with all voters in general.
Dabrowski acknowledged that dealing with Democratic supermajorities in the state legislature would prevent the state from adopting many of his positions, including reversing current sanctuary policies and laws.
“When I’m governor, I will spend the next four years campaigning. This will not be, will not be … ‘Oh, we’re in, now let’s make change.’ It’s obvious, right?” he said. “People need to be able to connect the dots between policies that they don’t like or policies that are failing, and who’s in control of the legislature. And over time, we need to either moderate their positions, because one thing is we might not be able to change their offices, but we can change how they vote.”
Dabrowski said he was “very disappointed” by the tenure of Illinois’ last GOP governor, one-termer Bruce Rauner, who was defeated by Pritzker. He contended that Rauner failed to engage voters when he took office, as he had during his winning campaign.
“He had the support of the people, and he should have kept using the support of the people … and he didn’t,” Dabrowski said of Rauner, a wealthy venture capitalist who has since moved to Florida. “And then, of course, he started flipping his policies, and then he lost everybody, and he confused everybody, and he lost support of his base, and he never had support of those who may have crossed over to give him a chance.”
