Gov. J.B. Pritzker | Facebook / JB Pritzker
Gov. J.B. Pritzker | Facebook / JB Pritzker
In what could be a preview of what voters can expect in the run-up to the 2024 presidential race, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is sparring with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over education.
Pritzker sent a letter to DeSantis criticizing his decision to effectively ban an Advanced Placement high school course on African American studies from its curriculum.
He called the move "political grandstanding" as DeSantis (R) publicly came out against an AP Black history course.
“I am extremely troubled by recent news reports that claim Gov. DeSantis is pressuring the College Board to change the AP African American Studies course in order to fit Florida’s racist and homophobic laws,” Pritzker (D) wrote.
Pritzker and DeSantis have both been mentioned as possible presidential contenders for their parties in the 2024 election.
Pritzker recently won a second term for himself as Illinois governor by defeating GOP challenger Darren Bailey in November's General Election. Pritzker garnered nearly 55% of the vote, Politico reported.
DeSantis saw a similar outcome in Flordia, winning his 2022 re-election bid by the largest margin in a Florida gubernatorial race in 40 years, WUFT reported. He ended up with nearly 60% of the vote.
Pritzker vowed, according to Politico, that Illinois will “not accept any watering down” of history, Pritzker further urged College Board officials to “refuse to bow to political pressure that would ask you to rewrite our nation’s true, if sometimes unpleasant, history." Of DeSantis, he said, "One governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history.”
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