Illinois to lose one congressional seat, but GOP may lose two of them

from ILLINOIS POLICY –

After touting a transparent, non-partisan redistricting process, Democratic state lawmakers have quietly circulated a map that could potentially eliminate two Republican U.S. House seats.

According to Crain’s Chicago Business, the redistricting map being circulated to Democratic Party leaders aims to further widen the partisan split in the Illinois Congressional Delegation. It would force Republicans to yield the U.S. representative seat Illinois is losing as a result of population loss, plus it could lose them a second seat downstate by drawing a district that lumps together Democratic voters more likely to send another Illinois Democrat to the U.S. House.

This would leave the state with 14 Democrats and just three Republicans representing them in the U.S. House. There are currently 13 Democrats and five Republicans. According to Crain’s, Democrats are taking aim this cycle at U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ Central Illinois district as well as U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s (Kinzinger, Davis pictured).

Gov. J.B. Pritzker promised from the campaign trail in 2018 through this year to veto any gerrymandered map. He recently backed off that promise, saying he trusted Democrats to be fair.

Illinois lawmakers have long used redistricting to force incumbents from the other party into the same district or to keep their party members safe from challengers. Both parties have abused the power when given the chance.

Under the proposed map, heavily GOP portions of Davis’ 13th Congressional District would be merged into fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller’s district, diluting Davis’ voting block for reelection.

Kinzinger’s 16th Congressional District would be dissolved and merged into surrounding districts. Kinzinger would lose his congressional seat.

Both Davis and Kinzinger have indicated they might run for governor against Pritzker if their districts are dismembered. Ironically, Pritzker campaigned for governor in 2018 on the promise he would veto any partisan political maps but walked back the promisein April.