Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in April.

Photo: John O'Connor/Associated Press

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has recently been seen in New Hampshire and Florida, spurring speculation that he’s eyeing a 2024 presidential bid. Or maybe he’s trying to escape Illinois like so many others have during his governorship.

Research outfit Wirepoints notes in a new report that Illinois’s real GDP grew a mere 0.5% between the first quarters of 2019 and 2022, the first three years of Mr. Pritzker’s governorship. That’s by far the slowest growth in the region. Indiana’s GDP increased by 6.1%, Iowa’s by 5.2%, and Michigan (3.7%), Kentucky (3.3%) and Missouri (3.1%) lapped it too. Even slow-growing Wisconsin (1.6%) recorded triple the growth of Illinois.

Mr. Pritzker can’t blame climate change. Illinois’s lagging GDP is especially remarkable given it benefited mightily from rising farm commodity prices. Agricultural GDP in Illinois rose 25.4% during the three-year period, which was more than in Iowa (21.2%), Missouri (15%), Michigan (11.4%) and Kentucky (0.4%).

Yet high taxes, crime and lousy schools are driving residents and businesses to other states. Ken Griffin recently said he’s moving his Citadel hedge fund and securities trading firm to Miami from Chicago. Caterpillar is replanting its corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas, and Boeing is relocating its head office to Arlington, Virginia.

Illinois lost $8.5 billion in adjusted gross income from out-migration in 2020, or about 1.9% of AGI, ranking 49th in the country. The only state that lost a larger share was New York. Florida gained $23.7 billion and New Hampshire $960 million. Maybe Mr. Pritzker has sojourned to these low-tax states to hit up Democratic donors who have decamped from Illinois.

Mr. Pritzker and Democrats were worried enough about his re-election that they spent more than $30 million during the GOP primary to boost Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey who was considered the weakest candidate in the field. But we wonder if Mr. Pritzker really wants to stick around for a full second term when the state and Chicago pension liabilities may again become a crisis.

Running for President might be a nice diversion that spares him from dealing with the mess Democrats have made of Illinois.