‘365 days of chaos’: Illinois Democrats reflect on Trump’s year

One year into President Donald Trump’s second term in office, top Illinois Democrats said it’s been a year of broken promises, uncertainty and fear for the future.

“Today marks 365 days of chaos, 365 days of attacks upon civil rights, on the rule of law and on the Constitution itself,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a Tuesday news conference in Chicago.

Gov. JB Pritzker used the day to meet with business leaders, health care workers, moms and a college student in Chicago to hear how Trump’s first year back in office has impacted their lives.

The second-term governor, who turned 61 on Monday, emerged in 2025 as one of Trump’s most vocal critics.

“The fact that people started paying attention to the things that I was saying was, frankly, a little bit surprising to me, but it was a result I think, of no one else really was saying and being as blunt as I was,” Pritzker told reporters.

While Pritzker has waged the rhetorical battle, most of Democrats’ efforts to block Trump’s initiatives happened in the courtroom. Over the last year, attorneys in Raoul’s office filed 51 lawsuits on behalf of Illinois residents, according to the attorney general’s office.

What’s in the lawsuits

Lawsuits have challenged the tactics of Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sought to block deployment of National Guard troops, won a nationwide temporary restraining order against a Trump executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship, and sued the administration over its decision to pause Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the government shutdown.

Other suits have pushed back against efforts to defund federal programs. Illinois won a court order barring the administration from withholding federal emergency funding due to Illinois’ immigration policies and temporarily stayed the administration from freezing $10 billion in child care and family service programs to five Democratic-led states.

Multiple suits sought to protect transgender and nonbinary Illinoisans, with one in August seeking to block an executive order that prohibited gender-affirming care for young people. In December, Illinois sued the White House for its threats to cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals providing that care.

Raoul said those suits have protected over $6.6 billion for the state, funding programs and services that Illinois families rely on.

‘This fight was personal’

Raoul struck an emotional tone when speaking about his office’s lawsuit to protect birthright citizenship — the right to citizenship for those born in the United States regardless of their parents’ status. A judge sided with Illinois in February, calling birthright an “unequivocal Constitutional right.”

“As a proud son of Haitian immigrants, born at the time that my mother was not yet naturalized, I am a birthright citizen,” Raoul said. “So, our first action could not have been more personal for me.”

He cited another suit challenging the Trump administration’s move to halt medical research funding.

“As a survivor of the cancer that took my father and both my grandfathers, protecting funding for cancer research could not be more personal for me,” Raoul said.

Raoul was joined at the conference by over 25 attorneys from his office that he credited with working overtime and on weekends to file the legal actions. Raoul said the work had taken an emotional toll on his staff.

“We are standing our ground to defend the rights of the people of Illinois and the rule of law, and we’re winning in the courts,” he said.

The Illinois GOP, meanwhile, said the last year has been “prosperous” for the state because of Trump. The party pointed to 11 measures, including a reduction in the national murder rate and decline in egg prices.

“Illinois, and the United States, is stronger, safer, and more prosperous,” the party said in a statement. “In his first year as the 47th President of the United States, President Trump has delivered on his promises and produced results for the American people.”