"It's criminal what (Rauner) has done to the Republican Party. He has silenced it. There is no dissent. Don't let that happen to our party. Don't put somebody in charge of our state who does not need all of you, who is not dependent upon all of you for re-election. Because if you do that, you will turn the Democratic Party in this state into what the Republican Party has become," said Kennedy, who afterward told reporters he was referring to Pritzker.