The backstory of Pritzker’s Malört shot

By Shia Kapos

Happy Monday, Illinois. Goodman Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” hits all the right notes for this holiday season.

BOTTOMS UP: Gov. JB Pritzker posted a pre-Thanksgiving video on social media showing him taking a shot of Jeppson's Malört like a champ.

We wondered if he was celebrating drinksgiving ahead of the big gobble gobble. He wasn’t.

What really happened: The video was taken a few weeks earlier at The Dawson in Chicago’s River West neighborhood to mark the one-year anniversary of Pritzker’s re-election.

The governor joined his youthful political team for the event and at some point during the party, as in so many Chicago parties, Malört was brought out.

The governor was nudged to take a shot of the only-in-Chicago liqueur. He downed (just) one shot with gusto, following it with a thumbs-up. Check out the video.

Malört motto: “It’s not a drink for most people, but we’re not most people,” brags the Malört website. As if to prove the point, 2022 campaign spokesman Natalie Edelstein can be seen in the background cringing at Pritzker downing the shot.

Down the hatch: The drink has been described as "citrus-flavored gasoline," "the regional prank beverage," "burnt vinyl car-seat condensation," "the vile flower liquor," "pure peer pressure," "the bad thing” and “hipster virtue-signaling juice," according to Food & Wine.

Synonymous with the election: Pritzker’s team might use similar descriptions of its battle with Republican challenger Darren Bailey last year.

Focusing on the wins: “It was an event to celebrate the long list of successes over the last 12 months,” said Christina Amestoy, Pritzker’s political spokeswoman. She ticked off Democrats adding a congressional seat, winning two Supreme Court races and Pritzker winning the governor's race by "the highest percentage any Democrat has received in more than 60 years."

START YOUR ENGINES! The 2024 election season officially kicks off today with candidates turning in their lists of signatures to get on the ballots of local, state and judicial races.

This is an Illinois tradition that gets big-name candidates to come out early for a top spot in line at Board of Election offices in Springfield, Cook County and other areas in the state. Veteran Congressman Danny Davis, who’s running for reelection in the 7th District, appears to be the first candidate in line at the State Board of Election site in Springfield. Pic!

Lottery time: Those in line by 8 a.m. today get their names put into a lottery drawing to be placed at the top of the ballot. The lottery is scheduled for Dec. 13 after the filing period wraps up.

Another tradition will see some candidates file Dec. 4, the last day of filing, between 4 and 5 p.m. for a chance to be in another lottery to be placed in the last spot of the ballot list. The thinking is that voters at the ballot box like to vote for the last one on the list, though there’s no scientific data that shows that’s the case.

The real fun: Next, candidates can file petitions to challenge the signatures of opponents in an attempt to knock them off the ballot.

The March 19 primary ballot will be certified in January.

Safety first: Election officials around the state have worked to tamp down conspiracy theories around the safety of the election process.

Downstate county clerks recently held news conferences to assure voters of election integrity. Along with calming fears, it was a good civics lesson.

“A lot of misinformation [is] being placed out there,” Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman recently told the Capitol Cast. “Two presidential cycles in a row. Before we got to the third one, if you just keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same result.”

PRIMARY TO WATCH: Candidates lining up to succeed Kim Foxx as Cook County state’s attorney, by the Tribune’s A.D. Quig

If you are Danny Davis, Playbook would like to hear from you. Email skapos@politico.com

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At the Hilton and Towers at 12:30 p.m. for a fireside chat with Crain’s Business.

No official public event.

At the Cook County Building at 4 p.m. for the holiday tree lighting.

Are you going to the White House holiday party? Email at skapos@politico.com

— Israel-Hamas protests disrupt life in Illinois and Democrats’ convention city: The area’s large Jewish and Palestinian communities are deeply connected to the region, making it a hotbed for tension, by your Playbook host.

Related: Schakowsky calls for an extension of the ceasefire, via a press release.

— POT POURI: ‘Marijuana Moms’ take on McHenry County prosecutor over mental health effects of cannabis, reports the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin.

— A vote on Gotion: The Manteno Village Planning Commission is expected to vote tonight on a proposal for Gotion’s $2 billion EV lithium battery plant that is expected to cover about 150 acres and create as many as 2,600 jobs, according to the governor’s office.

— Chicago and other Democratic cities brace for a nightmare winter trying to house migrants: Democratic mayors and governors have publicly and privately pleaded with the Biden administration to help bolster and expand their maxed-out shelter systems — calls that are taking on new urgency as winter sets in and temperatures drop below freezing, via POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky, Katelyn Cordero and your Playbook host.

— Construction of winter tents for migrants in Brighton Park to start today, by the Sun-Times’ David Struett

— Pritzker administration sought migrant tent camp proposals before Mayor Brandon Johnson took office, records show, by the Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Alice Yin

— How one Chicagoan is stepping up for migrant children with disabilities, by the Tribune’s Nell Salzman

— Mayor’s office to Ald. David Moore: South Side warming centers won’t be used as migrant shelters, by Block Club’s Atavia Reed

— Commentary: When it comes to welcoming cities, ‘Native Americans started it all,’ writes Matthew Beaudet in the Sun-Times

— Sam McCann, former state senator and gubernatorial candidate, appearing before a judge today: He was indicted in 2021 for allegedly using “funds from political campaigns for personal expenses including vehicles, personal debts, mortgages, and pay for himself,” reports the State Journal-Register’s Patrick M. Keck.

— JB Pritzker and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer’s political aspirations tied in large part to abortion rights, writes Kerry Lester Kasper for the Center for Illinois Politics.

— Brandon Johnson won office with a nontraditional vision for policing. Does his first CPD budget line up? It eliminates more than 800 vacant street cop positions and creates almost 400 new civilian positions to free up more officers to patrol the streets. “But a contingent of dozens of grassroots organizations that supported Johnson’s candidacy argued his budget falls short of his campaign promise to transform public safety,” reports the Tribune’s Alice Yin.

— CHA mounts $50 million program to fix up scattered sites: “The agency promises to be 'laser focused' over the next 18 months on its vacant single-family homes and smaller apartment buildings,” by the Sun-Times’ David Roeder.

— Black Panthers’ legacy, image at issue in feud over historic sites, by the Sun-Times’ Isabel Funk

— What caused CTA train crash? Braking glitches, 'communications meltdown' questioned, by the Daily Herald’s Marni Pyke

— Why some township roads cost suburban taxpayers $100,000 per mile, by the Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin

— Chicago lore now includes ‘the tun’ and ‘the riot act’ as the trial continues. Good wrap-up of the first big week by the Tribune’s Ray Long, Megan Crepeau and Jason Meisner

— Feds seek 13 months in prison for ex-Chicago firefighter who stormed US Capitol with right-wing militia group: Joseph Pavlik, 66, of Chicago, “came to the Capitol prepared for violence” and “fanned the flames of the mob,” according to prosecutors, the Tribune’s Jason Meisner reports.

— Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan and former Chicago mayor, talks Chicago politics, ambassadorship and Gaza in an exclusive interview with WTTW’s Paris Schutz.

— Juliana Stratton, the Illinois lieutenant governor, headlines a new episode of The Broad Cast podcast. Subject: Her initiatives in restorative justice and violence prevention, diversifying the agriculture industry and advocating for women entrepreneurs. Listen here.

— Phil Vettel, the former Tribune food critic, will receive the Culinary Excellence Award, the highest honor of the Jean Banchet Awards, reports the Tribune’s Shanzeh Ahmad.

— Patricia Benanti, a volunteer at St. Martin de Porres Center in Springfield, has been named 2023 First Citizen, by the State Journal-Register's Leisa Richardson.

— Gordon Wayman, a former state employee, has a political memorabilia collection that spans 48 years, by the State Journal-Register’s Patrick M. Keck.

GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.N. SUBSCRIBE NOW.

We asked if you have a story about candidate filing day:

Carol S. Portman, president of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, recalled her father, Charles Shuman, telling the story about running as a delegate for the Constitutional Convention and once seeing a box of signed petitions “cascading down a staircase like confetti.”

Claude Walker: “In 1999, I remember a potential candidate handing out cocoa and working the line in the predawn chill to help the Democratic Party bosses. I thought, ‘She’ll go far.’ It was Susana Mendoza.”

For tomorrow, Which Illinois politician would you like to have a beer with?

— Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee sees ‘golden path’ toward lower inflation without recession, by AP’s Christopher Rugaber

— No Christmastime budget showdown — but Congress will suffer for it in January, by POLITICO’s Jordain Carney, Burgess Everett and Sarah Ferris

— Fragile ceasefire continues as 4-year-old American among hostages released by Hamas, by POLITICO’s Kelly Garrity

— Trump is fighting an uphill battle in his fraud trial. But it could be years before penalties kick in, by POLITICO’s Erica Orden

— Robert Morris, former Glencoe Village manager, dies at 101, by Pioneer Press’ Daniel I. Dorfman

— Tom E. Egizii, former president of the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois, dies at 80, via the State Journal-Register

LAST WEEK’s ANSWER: The first Chicagoan to receive a patent was architect John Mills Van Osdel for building water pumps powered by a horizontal windmill.

TODAY's QUESTION: Where was the first U.S. car race held and who won it? Email skapos@politico.com

NielsenIQ comms manager Jose I. Sanchez, Cor Strategies operations marshal Ryan Kilduff, educator Ted Wanberg and journalist Robert Reed.

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