Illinois just received a new financial accolade from a top bond-rating agency, giving Gov. JB Pritzker a strategic boost in a fall campaign where Republican challenger Darren Bailey has made the state’s fiscal management under Pritzker a central issue.

S&P Global Ratings raised Illinois’ general obligation bond rating from an “A-” to an “A,” marking the 12th bond-rating upgrade for the state since Pritzker took office in 2019.

S&P cited the passage of consecutive balanced state budgets and the “ongoing build-up of operating reserves” in the event of an economic recession since the last credit upgrade in February 2023. The agency says Illinois’ fiscal outlook is “stable.”

Last week, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded its own bond rating for Illinois, saying the state has demonstrated “conservative fiscal management.”

In a statement, Pritzker said the back-to-back upgrades show Illinois’ financial progress is built to last, “even as the Trump Administration creates uncertainty and new challenges.”

Last week, the two-term governor made a campaign stop in Springfield on a statewide bus tour and rubbed the nose of Abraham Lincoln’s bronze bust outside the tomb in which he’s buried. The governor’s office said Pritzker, who is seeking a third term, was hoping for good luck and for another credit upgrade.

“Working alongside the General Assembly, we have transformed Illinois from a state defined by fiscal instability into one earning recognition for responsible financial management,” Pritzker said.

A higher bond rating usually means lower borrowing costs for the state. The two credit upgrades come as the state prepares to sell general obligation bonds later this month. According to Pritzker’s office, proceeds from the sale will go toward infrastructure projects and the state’s pension buyout program for state and university employees, as well as public school teachers outside of Chicago.

The rosier assessment of the state’s finances forced Bailey on Wednesday to at least partly soften some of his earlier attacks on Pritzker’s financial stewardship of Illinois through nearly two terms in office.

“Illinois getting a credit upgrade is good news,” Bailey said in a Facebook post. “I’m not going to tell you otherwise just because I’m running against JB Pritzker.”

Despite making that acknowledgment, Bailey cointinued to point the finger at Pritzker for making the state less affordable through high property, sales and gas taxes.

“He made YOU pay more to afford government,” Bailey wrote. “More at the pump. More at the toll booth. More to register your car. A lot more when the property tax bill comes. Death by a thousand cuts. And Illinois families are bleeding out.”

Bailey also says Illinois still has the lowest credit rating of any state in the U.S., which is backed up by a recent S&P Global report ranking states by credit ranking. The list shows Illinois is the only state with a single “A” grade, behind Kentucky which has earned an “A+.”

“So yes, I’m glad Illinois can borrow money cheaper,” Bailey said. “Now let’s make Illinois cheaper to live in.”

Moody’s points to Illinois’ longstanding pension funding crisis, and amendments in the state constitution that prohibit a more progressive tax structure as reasons why Illinois is an outlier among other states. But according to Pritzker, former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner should shoulder much of the blame for causing a two-year budget impasse.

“Before Governor Pritzker took office, Illinois endured 24 credit rating downgrades over 15 years, including eight downgrades between 2015 and 2017,” Pritzker’s office said in a statement, citing the timeframe when Rauner was in office. “The state accumulated nearly $17 billion in unpaid bills, depleted its financial reserves, and went more than two decades without receiving a credit rating upgrade.”

The general election will take place Nov. 3.