Governor JB Pritzker recently suggested that Illinois lawmakers could redraw congressional maps with more Democrat-leaning districts. Redrawing legislative maps typically happens once a decade after the national census, though sometimes states have been ordered by courts if their legislative maps violated voting rights laws.
Illinois’ map divides the state’s 17-member congressional delegation into 14 Democrat-leaning districts and three Republican-leaning districts. The three districts currently held by Republicans are mostly large, meandering rural areas Democrats didn’t draw into districts they wanted.
“It’s rich that the Governor now claims to support playing by the rules — after he enthusiastically signed into law the most gerrymandered maps in the nation,” House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said in a statement. “When it was convenient, he promised to reject partisan maps in favor of fair representation.”
Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, also condemned gerrymander in other states.
“I disagree with efforts in other states to double down on further partisan gerrymandering, but I can make that statement because I voted against partisan gerrymandering in Illinois and have been dedicated to its elimination for many years,” Spain said in a statement.
Read the full story from Ben Szalinski at Capitol News Illinois