Pritzker’s weight loss prompts discussion on changing attitudes over presidential appearance

JB Pritzker is looking different these days.

Illinois’s Democratic governor, who is considering a 2028 run for president, admitted as much when he acknowledged he lost 80 pounds after using a GLP-1 in the last two years to help treat his diabetes.

Pritzker’s weight loss journey has been so apparent in recent months that the governor felt the need to address it in a personal essay and in a couple of interviews. In those sit-downs, he explained that it was health concerns — not his political pursuits — that prompted the effort.

But among political observers, the change renewed a discussion on how presidential candidates present themselves to voters, particularly in an era when authenticity — or at least the appearance of it — matters more than ever.

Politicians are shooting their own videos and swapping television studios for less formal podcasts. They’re wearing less makeup, dressing in casual clothes or sporting hair pulled back in a ponytail — all as part of an effort to appear less packaged.

For presidential candidates, the way they present themselves can convey something beyond aesthetics and vanity. Voters can make judgments about a candidate’s health and vitality, particularly after a political cycle when age and mental acuity became such a big part of the narrative around former President Biden.

“What people look like does matter to voters,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, even as he noted that “in the modern era, our old ways of thinking about it may be wrong.”

“People are looking for candidates that don’t fit the traditional mold,” he said. “That may also be true physically.”

Still, Simmons added, “being healthy, having stamina and an ability to work nonstop at a frantic pace is required regardless of the aesthetics. Candidates have to be healthy enough to work at a pace that is unreal to most people.”

In an interview with “CBS Mornings” last week, Pritzker acknowledged the chatter that his weight loss is directly tied to preparing for a presidential run. But he said his reasoning was personal.

“I’ve been driven my whole life to lose weight,” Pritzker said. “The fact that I am now able to do it because this GLP-1 became available is truly like, I mean, it’s something that has meant a lot to me.”

Other high-profile candidates — including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who ran as the vice presidential nominee in the 2024 presidential election — have slimmed down in recent months, Axios noted in late 2025. And former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is known for his youthful appearance, has sported a beard, something he attributes to being out of public office.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), another 2028 contender, has long been known for his looks and polished appearance, something his allies say is a net positive.

“Appearance does matter when people are voting for president of the most powerful nation on earth,” said Garry South, who served as an adviser to Newsom in his first gubernatorial campaign. He added that “aesthetics do play a role, rightly or wrongly, in politics.”

Appearance is something voters have mentioned in focus groups, said South, a Democrat who argued that Trump is the first “obese” commander in chief since former Presidents William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland.

“In both cases that was more than 100 years ago [and] we haven’t had a bald president since [former President] Eisenhower at the dawn of the TV age,” he added.

At the same time, some Democrats argue that Newsom’s well-coiffed image could be a caricature used against him. One strategist pointed to the Harper’s Bazaar photo shoot he did with then-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2004, where the couple sprawled on a rug, with a headline that blared “The New Kennedys.”

“It’s definitely in the top five things that will be thrown against him,” one strategist said. “You can definitely see, ‘Out of touch, pretty boy who poses for weird photo shoots and dines at French Laundry’ as part of that oppo book.”

Trump has frequently targeted Pritzker on his weight, at one point last year calling him a “big, fat slob.”

But unlike many of his presidential predecessors, Trump has never embraced regular workouts and has been known to eat fast food. Former President Clinton jogged regularly and even had a treadmill in his room when he traveled. Former President George W. Bush was an avid runner, and former President Obama hit the gym each morning.

Laurie Essig, the chair of gender, sexuality and feminist studies at Middlebury College, said appearance does matter and those impressions date back to the late 19th century, particularly with men and their bodies.

“I think it does. I think Donald Trump is the exception to that rule,” Essig said. “What we want is someone who works hard and has an investment in bodily discipline.

“We associate fat with moral failing,” she continued, while throwing cold water on those opinions. “These cultural biases are deep and longstanding,”

Pritzker himself said he has his own views on the matter, and said he doesn’t agree that a candidate’s appearance alone should matter.

“I think it’s more like the content of your character matters more, and I’ve always believed that,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “And that’s why I haven’t listened to people who say nasty things about me being overweight.”