Florida Chamber Trolls Pritzker with Runner-Up Economic Developer Award

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is bringing its multimillion-dollar recruitment campaign to Chicago, using billboards to thank Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for jobs and taxable income moving south, as reported by Fox Business.

The business group has named Pritzker the runner-up for Florida’s “Economic Developer of the Year.”

The billboards feature an image of Pritzker shrugging and face traffic traveling in both directions along I-55, also known as the Stevenson Expressway.

They are scheduled to remain active for one week.

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Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson told Fox News Digital that the campaign is focused on public policy rather than personal animosity toward Pritzker.

“This isn’t personal, right? This is about policy.”

Wilson said governors bear top responsibility for policies enacted in their states.

He criticized Chicago’s safety, taxes, and business climate while arguing that Illinois is losing residents, companies, and taxable income.

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According to Wilson, Florida gained about 1.9 million residents while Illinois lost between 75,000 and 100,000 residents during the same period.

He also said more than $2 billion in taxable income moved from Illinois to Florida.

“Everything we do is scorecard driven, and we follow the data,” Wilson said when explaining why the Chamber chose Chicago as the campaign’s next destination.

He said New York ranked first in the Chamber’s data and Illinois ranked second.

The Chicago launch comes just over one month after the Chamber named New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Florida’s “Economic Developer of the Year” through a Times Square campaign.

The Chamber argues that progressive tax and economic policies push businesses, families, and wealth toward Florida.

Wilson also cited prominent corporate departures from Chicago, including billionaire Ken Griffin’s decision to move hedge fund giant Citadel to Miami.

He argued that crime and tax burdens can persuade employers to leave Illinois.

The Chamber leader pointed to bullet holes appearing in the Citadel building in Chicago as one factor in that broader argument.

He said Illinois policies have made the state less safe, less competitive, and more expensive.

Wilson also criticized tax increases affecting people who invest in manufacturing and local communities.

He noted that people such as Griffin contribute hundreds of millions of dollars through philanthropy supporting public education and safer communities.

The Florida campaign is not limited to courting hedge funds and billionaires.

Wilson said the Chamber is also pursuing Illinois businesses in advanced manufacturing, aviation and technology startups.

“Advanced manufacturing, for example, is one of our top priorities in Florida,” Wilson said.

He added that Florida is one of the only states with a chief manufacturing officer and is currently the No. 1 state for new business startups.

Wilson said the earlier Times Square campaign helped push the Chamber’s overall earned media valuation beyond $100 million.

He declined to disclose the cost of the Chicago billboards, but said the Florida Chamber spends millions of dollars annually on its work.

The Chamber hopes Pritzker’s office will review the data and consider its free enterprise message, according to Wilson.

He said Illinois has half as many people as Florida while carrying a significantly larger budget and debt.

Pritzker did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Wilson nevertheless said Illinois residents and businesses deserve policies rooted in free enterprise.

At the same time, Wilson acknowledged that Florida’s rapid growth places responsibility on state and business leaders.

He warned that Florida must avoid allowing the same problems he sees in Illinois, New York and California to take hold.

Wilson said Florida should not settle for merely comparing itself favorably with those states. “And the challenge is we need to compare ourselves to Florida’s potential, right? Florida versus Florida.”

The Chicago billboards are temporary, but Wilson said the broader Free Enterprise Florida campaign will continue and could target additional states.

“Our goal in all of this is to give a wake-up call to the residents of these states,” he said.

Wilson framed the effort as a push for stronger economic policies across the country, not merely another round of interstate competition.

“We want America to win. And if you want to look at the future of what America can look like, you look no further than what Florida has done.”

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