Ken Griffin decided he'd seen enough after he watched a bullet hole appear in his Citadel building in downtown Chicago.
That moment – the billionaire packing up and moving to Miami – became the symbol of what JB Pritzker built in Illinois.
And JB Pritzker flew off the rails when he saw these two billboards hanging along I-55.
Florida Puts Pritzker's Face on I-55
The Florida Chamber of Commerce just rolled out two billboards along I-55 – one facing traffic heading into Chicago, one facing traffic leaving it.
Pritzker's face stares out from both of them.
The award: runner-up for Florida's "Economic Developer of the Year," with thanks for the jobs, the companies, and the billions in taxable income that left Illinois for the Sunshine State.
This is the same campaign that put New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in Times Square last month – and that billboard drove web traffic up 500% to 600% for Florida's Free Enterprise campaign, with business inquiries coming in at five to seven contacts per day from New York, California, Washington, and Illinois.
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Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson explained why Pritzker earned the runner-up slot: "All of Illinois is in a death spiral."
The numbers back him up.
The Numbers Pritzker Doesn't Want You to See
IRS migration data shows Illinois lost a net 87,000 residents in a single year – third-worst in the country behind California and New York.
The income those people took with them is the part that should terrify Springfield.
People leaving Illinois earned an average of $104,000 per year.
People moving into Illinois earned an average of $79,000.
The state isn't just losing residents – it's losing its highest earners and replacing them with lower-income arrivals.
Since 2000, Illinois has watched $94 billion in adjusted gross income walk out the door with departing taxpayers.
Florida alone pulled a net $3.3 billion in income out of Illinois in a single filing year – 31,620 Illinoisans moved to Florida while only 12,521 Floridians moved the other direction.
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And what's waiting for those who stay?
Pritzker just signed a fiscal year 2026 budget carrying more than $1 billion in new tax increases – on top of a state that already runs the highest overall tax burden in the country.
His own budget office projected a $3.2 billion deficit for 2026 before the budget was finalized.
The projected shortfall through 2030 sits at $23 billion.
Wilson put it plainly: "Illinois has half as many people as Florida, but their budget and their debt is significantly larger than Florida."
What Florida Is Actually Offering
Florida isn't running a trolling campaign – it's running a recruitment operation.
The Chamber is directly targeting Illinois's advanced manufacturing sector, its aviation companies, and its tech startups.
Florida is currently the number one state in the country for new business startups and the only state with a chief manufacturing officer.
The billboard campaign is the public face of something real: after the Times Square Mamdani billboard, companies called, site selectors inquired, and decision-makers who built something valuable started looking for an exit.
Wilson was direct about what drove Griffin out.
"When bullet holes emerged in the Citadel building in Chicago, that was sort of one of the straws," Wilson said. "You can't decriminalize things and then tell everybody you have a safer community – people don't buy that, and it's not true."
Griffin moved Citadel to Miami.
Illinois got the bullet holes.
Florida got the billionaire.
This Is the Future If Nothing Changes
Illinois Democrats keep promising the next tax increase will stabilize the budget.
It never does.
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Every hike accelerates the exit of the exact people the state needs to pay its bills – high earners who can do the math and act on it.
That math is now on a billboard on the Stevenson Expressway.
Pritzker's own budget office projects deficits of $3 billion to $5 billion per year through 2030.
The people who can leave before the next round hits are already checking flights to Tampa.
Wilson said he hopes the governor's office "reflects on the data."
Pritzker didn't respond to Fox Business's request for comment.
That silence is its own answer.
Sources:
- Kristen Altus, "Florida Chamber gives JB Pritzker 'runner-up' for 'Economic Developer of the Year' award on Chicago billboards," Fox Business, September 2026.
- Kristen Altus, "Florida Chamber CEO: Companies eye Sunshine State 'from all over the country' after viral Mamdani billboard," Fox Business, September 2026.
- Kristen Altus, "Florida names NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani 'Economic Developer of the Year' in Times Square campaign," Fox Business, August 2026.
- Ted Dabrowski, "The great exodus continues: Fresh IRS data shows Illinois loses residents to 40 other states," Wirepoints, 2024.
- Mark Glennon and John Klingner, "New IRS Migration Numbers: Illinois Taxpayers Continue to Flee With Their Income," Wirepoints, 2024.
- Staff, "Pritzker Must Address $3.2B Deficit Amid Federal Funding Uncertainty," WTTW News, February 2025.
