For better or worse, November 2024 elections were a triumph for Republicans nationwide. And margins for the GOP in deep-blue Illinois were no exception. For the Illinois House, Republicans received a total 45% of votes statewide, a considerably better showing than in 2020, the previous presidential election year, when the GOP got just 39% of the Illinois House vote.
But in terms of seats in Springfield’s lower chamber, nothing changed after November.
Literally nothing.
Not a single district went from blue to red or vice versa. Just as they did before the 2024 election, Democrats have a 78-40 supermajority in the House, 66% of the seats. That’s despite their winning just 55% of the vote.
Democrats have drawn the 118 House districts in such a way as to reduce the truly competitive seats to a minimum, leading to more politically extreme representatives from both parties in the state capital and an embarrassing number of uncontested elections.