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President Donald Trump suggested states that can give
Republicans an advantage, should. This summer, several dozen
Democrats from Texas fled to Illinois to avoid voting for that
state's new congressional maps that gives Republicans an
advantage.
Mid-cycle redistricting is rare, but not illegal. Several states
have redistricted mid-cycle several times in the past few
decades, including Texas.
Don Tracy, a Republican running for the seat being vacated by
Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, called
congressional Democrats’ push to gerrymander Illinois “cynical”
and “pure political opportunism.”
“Governor JB Pritzker was extremely critical of Texas’
redistricting,” Tracy said in a statement. “Yet he’s silent as
his own party attempts to manipulate Illinois’ map to entrench
power.”
In front of The Economic Club of Chicago Tuesday, Gov. J.B.
Pritzker was asked if Illinois will follow suit to give
Democrats an advantage. Pritzker hedged.
“I don’t think any of it is good. I don’t want to do it for the
state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “I don’t think we should
redistrict here. I have to say though that we live in, I mean,
the most dangerous times that I can remember when it comes to
preserving our democratic institutions. They are breaking them
down everywhere. What should we do? Should we just sit back and
let it happen? I don’t know what the right answer is.”
Monday, candidates for the 2026 primary, including those seeking
office for one of Illinois’ 17 U.S. House seats, begin filing
their nominating petitions. The primary is March 17. The midterm
election is Nov. 3, 2026.
Illinois’ maps are already among the worst gerrymandered, giving
Democrats a 14-3 advantage over Republicans for Illinois’
congressional delegation despite President Donald Trump getting
nearly 45% of the vote in 2024.
Pritzker said he favors a national commission for redistricting.
“The idea that we should have fair elections and that we should
have a map that is reflective, I agree,” Pritzker said. “So
guess what, in 2021, the Congress introduced a bill, Democrats
introduced a bill, that would require independent commissions
for every state because you just can’t do it one state or
another state.”
Redistricting commission efforts for Illinois have been blocked
in the past with the prospect that the question could come up
for voters in 2026.
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