Gov. JB Pritzker has deposited $25.5 million from his vast personal fortune into his campaign fund with four months to go until Illinois’ March 17 primary elections and a year before voters will decide whether to give the billionaire Democrat a historic third term in Springfield.

Pritzker, who faces a nominal challenge in the Democratic primary next year, contributed $500,000 to his JB for Governor campaign account on Nov. 7 and another $25 million on Thursday, state campaign finance records show. Before making the contributions, Pritzker had more than $661,000 remaining in his campaign fund as of Sept. 30, the end of the most recent reporting period.

By exceeding a $250,000 self-funding threshold, Pritzker has opened the door to unlimited fundraising in the governor’s race next year, regardless of who wins the Republican nomination.

“Illinoisans deserve a governor who’s all-in for them,” Pritzker campaign spokesman Alex Gough said in a statement Monday. “That’s why Gov. Pritzker is investing in this race, and races down ballot — to protect the progress we’ve made, to keep costs down for working families, and to stand strong against the extremists who seek to tear this country apart. This fight is about the future of Illinois, and JB is committed to winning it for everyone who calls this state home.”

Nevertheless, the $25.5 million total represents a smaller down payment than Pritzker, who is eyeing a potential White House bid in 2028, had made by this point in his two previous races for governor. In those races, Pritzker ended up spending a combined $350 million to oust one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018 and fend off a challenge from then-GOP state Sen. Darren Bailey in 2022.

Four months before voters went the the polls for the contested 2018 Democratic primary, Pritzker had deposited $35.2 million into his campaign account, state campaign records show. It was Pritzker’s first bid for public office since his unsuccessful congressional campaign two decades earlier. In the 2018 primary, Pritzker defeated businessman and political scion Chris Kennedy and then-state Sen. Daniel Biss to win the party’s nomination for governor.

Similar to the 2026 race, Pritzker faced only a nominal primary challenge in his second-term bid. Still, by Feb. 28, 2022, four months before that primary, he had contributed $125 million to his campaign fund, according to campaign records.

As of Monday, Forbes estimated the governor’s fortune at $3.9 billion, making him the 382nd-richest person in America, but the sixth-richest among the six Pritzkers on the magazine’s list of billionaires.

Personal tax records released last month show that Pritzker and his wife, MK, reported more than $10.3 million in taxable income last year, including more than $1.4 million in gambling winnings. Much of the governor’s fortune is held in domestic and offshore trusts.

Separately, tax records for Think Big America, the dark money group Pritzker founded in 2023 to support pro-abortion rights causes and candidates around the country, show the group received $6.8 million in the 2024 tax year, according to the most recent available filing. The group is not required to disclose its donors, but Pritzker’s team has said he is its sole funder.