SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Governor JB Pritzker‘s running mate in next week’s election, Christian Mitchell, has been one of the Governor’s deputies in the office.

But, Mitchell tells the WTAX Morning Newswatch, “deputy governor” and “lieutenant governor” are two different things.

“Deputy governor is a high-level appointed staff position,” said Mitchell.  “There are four in Illinois under JB Pritzker:  one for education, one for health and human services, one for budget and economy, and I had…energy, infrastructure, and public safety.  You’re really doing the day to day work, working with agencies, going to meetings, developing policy, that sort of thing.”

Mitchell says he’d be more public-facing if elected lieutenant governor, and would chair the state’s rural affairs council.

The Democrat lives in the south side of Chicago, but says he’s not a “typical Chicago politician.”

“I’m in Peoria, basically, every month.  I’m a member of the Air National Guard.  So I spend a lot of time in Central Illinois,” said Mitchell, whose unit is based in Peoria.  “I also grew up with …my mother’s side of the family that I was closest to was from Sparta, Tennessee — about 100 miles east of Nashville.  I grew up around folks who were shooting guns.  I had cousins who bottled moonshine in the mountains of Tennessee.”  Mitchell points out what was bottled up was legal.  He also says he has been known to make hunting excursions in this part of the state.

Mitchell says if elected, he would still serve in the Air National Guard, because that’s important to him.

Mitchell is running alongside Pritzker, whose campaign claimed he was too busy for an interview with us, offering us the running mate instead, even though opponents Darren Bailey and Collin Corbett made time for us.