When former President Donald J. Trump was convicted in his New York criminal trial, it took Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois about 19 minutes to fire off a statement calling him a felon, a racist, a homophobe and a grifter. Only one other Democratic governor issued a statement that night about Mr. Trump’s conviction, and the Biden campaign’s response — which came one minute after Mr. Pritzker’s — focused on what Mr. Trump would do as president rather than on the verdict. Since then, as the Democratic Party and the Biden campaign have wrestled with how to wield the conviction to their advantage, Mr. Pritzker has emerged as the chief amplifier of Mr. Trump’s felon status. Unlike other top surrogates who have followed Mr. Biden’s lead and kept the focus on Mr. Trump’s policies rather than his conviction, Mr. Pritzker has blazed his own trail of Trump insults — to great cheers from fellow Democrats who are hungry to attack.

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Persons: Donald J, Trump, JB Pritzker, Trump’s, Biden, Pritzker’s —, Pritzker, Biden’s, — Organizations: Illinois, Democratic, Democratic Party Locations: New York