Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says his message to Democrats is that “we’ve got to be ready for the fight.”

Pritzker, in an interview ahead of his keynote address at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s annual McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club fundraiser dinner on Sunday, said the nation is “in a constitutional crisis” and that “we have too many people who are ill affected by the policies of the Trump administration.”

The billionaire two-term governor of the solidly blue midwestern state has become one of his party’s most vocal critics against the sweeping and controversial moves by President Donald Trump during the first three months of his second tour of duty in the White House.

“This is the moment for people to stand up and fight,” he said.

The governor, a member of the Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and who has started several of his own venture capital and investment startups, is seen as a potential contender for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination. His trips to New Hampshire – which for over a century has held the first primary in the race for the White House – are seen as an early indicator of a politician’s interest in running for the presidency in the next election.

The 60-year-old Pritzker is the first of the possible Democratic White House hopefuls to visit New Hampshire, or any of the other early voting primary states, since last November’s election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and their U.S. Senate majority and came up short in their attempt to win back control of the U.S. House. Trump and down-ballot Republicans made gains with key parts of the Democrats’ base, including Black, Hispanic, and younger voters.

In the wake of those setbacks, Democrats have experienced increased intra-party tensions with an angry and energized base itching to fight back against Trump. That anger is directed not only at Trump and Republicans, but also at Democrats, with many in the party’s base upset that leaders haven’t been effective or vocal enough in pushing back against the president.

It’s also led to reflection about what exactly the Democratic Party stands for and its direction moving forward.

“I’ve been clear my whole life,” Pritzker said. “The Democratic Party stands up for working people. Stands up for working families. We’re the party of civil rights. We’re the party of human rights. No doubt about that, in my mind.”

Pritzker made no commitment to launching a national campaign in the 2028 election cycle.

“All I can tell you is, I’m focused on the question of whether I will run for reelection as governor, and on defeating the policies of Donald Trump,” he said.

Pritzker, who is not prevented by term limits from running for re-election in 2026, has yet to say if he’ll make a bid for a third term steering Illinois. But the clock is ticking, with the filing period opening up later this year and the state’s primary just 11 months away.

“Given the circumstances of getting on the ballot for people, I would need to make a decision and announce it by the latest, July,” Pritzker said about his timetable for making a decision.

But it’s a possible presidential run by Pritzker that’s grabbing headlines.

Veteran New Hampshire-based Democratic consultant and strategist Jim Demers noted that “for many New Hampshire Democrats, his visit is an early audition for 2028.”

“It comes at a time when voters are really looking for leadership, someone who will challenge what Donald Trump is doing. So, what he says will be weighed very heavily,” he added.

Demers, pointing to Pritzker’s handful of trips to the Granite State over the past couple of years, said that “every time he has visited with New Hampshire voters, he has delivered a message that has resonated very well.”

Neil Levesque, the longtime director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, said Pritzker will be talking to a captive audience.

“Pritzker is coming into a highly political state at an opportune time because of how fired up and charged up Democrats are in opposition to President Trump,” he said.

Levesque noted that the stop “will kick off the first of multiple visits by multiple potential candidates considering that Democrats are hungry for an opposition.”