Mr. Trump has deployed National Guard forces and federal agents to the streets of two other major cities — Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — in recent months, part of what the president casts as a crackdown against illegal immigration, violent crime and civil unrest.
Last week, the president said his administration could take similar steps in Chicago. Mr. Trump called the city a “mess” and lashed out against Mayor Brandon Johnson, saying, “We’ll straighten that one out probably next.”
The governor argued that the president’s gambit may be part of a plan to “stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections.”
He also called the idea “an attack on the American people.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected Pritzker’s accusations and blasted the city’s violent crime rate.
The Guard deployments in Los Angeles and D.C. have drawn stiff pushback from elected officials who argue local police are better able to handle crime, and warn the presence of federal agents and military personnel could inflame tensions.
Future military deployments could also draw legal challenges. While Mr. Trump controls the D.C. National Guard outright, the governors of the 50 states typically control their own Guard forces except in certain circumstances.
The Trump administration deployed thousands of California National Guard members to Los Angeles over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections in June, arguing they were necessary to protect federal immigration agents and facilities from tense protests in the city.
The state of California sued the administration, calling the deployment illegal. An appeals court found that Mr. Trump likely did have the legal authority to call up the state’s National Guard, under a law that lets the president call Guard forces into federal service during a “rebellion” or if he isn’t able to “execute the laws of the United States.” A lower court is still reviewing whether military forces in Los Angeles were inappropriately used for law enforcement purposes.