37 STATES WOULDN’T LET PRITZKER RUN FOR 3RD TERM IN 2026
by
Dylan Sharkey,
Charlotte Rotkis
JULY 8, 2025
37 states wouldn’t let Pritzker run for 3rd term in 2026
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is running for a third term in 2026. In two-thirds of the states, term-limit laws would prevent him from running.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is running for a third term in 2026.
In 37 states, he wouldn’t be allowed to run again.
Illinois is one of just 13 states with no gubernatorial term limits. In 37 states, governors are limited to two consecutive terms – sometimes for life, sometimes with a required gap before they can run again. That means in those 37 out of 50 states, Pritzker would already be wrapping up and looking for his next job.
If Pritzker wins reelection, he would be the
first three-term Democratic governor in Illinois history. Former governors Jim Thompson and Richard Oglesby were both Republicans elected three times.
When any incumbent is in an uncompetitive seat, the lack of competition makes them more susceptible to special interests. Without comprehensive term limits for both executive and legislative offices, Illinois is vulnerable to concentrated power that stifles innovation, responsiveness and public trust. Term limits ensure new voices and ideas can rise. They curb the self-interest that can grow with prolonged tenure. And they make it clear that elected office is a temporary position of service – not a career.
Polling consistently shows Illinoisans support term limits. In 2014, nearly
600,000 voters signed a petition to put a term limits referendum on the ballot, only to have it blocked by the state’s courts.
If Pritzker runs and wins again in 2026, he will serve 12 consecutive years, which is only possible because Illinois doesn’t have basic safeguards in place like nearly everywhere else.
But [then], Pritzker’s 2018
presidential ambitions may limit his third term anyway.