Illinois redistricting

The Illinois Democrat was a guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking podcast.

The St. Clair County Democrat was a guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking podcast.

Former federal officials are backing an effort to reform the state legislature’s redistricting process. Congressional districts would be unaffected. Illinois’ state Senate map gives a partisan advantage to Democrats, and its House map isn’t compact enough, according to researchers at Princeton

Gov. JB Pritzker touts redistricting in response to Texas, but that may not yield big Democratic gains in Illinois’ congressional delegation.

As tensions escalate, the Illinois governor won’t rule out state redistricting in mid-decade.

A case brought to the Illinois Supreme Court by House Republican Leader Tony McCombie asked the court to reject the current legislative map for its partisan bias and have a special master redraw the districts.

The maps Illinois Democrats approved in 2021 sealed in their political power for a decade — adding one Hispanic-majority blue seat in Congress and forcing two Republicans out of their districts.

Two Republicans will fight to represent a horseshoe-shaped district that takes in parts of the Metro East and the Quincy area.

The panel announced during a status hearing Friday that it will go ahead with in-person oral arguments, even though two sets of plaintiffs had said earlier in the week that the case could be decided solely on the briefs and written testimony that have already been filed.

The community of 32,000, one of the only growing cities in the Metro East, is split between two congressional districts. Some say this drastically hurts its representation.