Gov. JB Pritzker sent a warning shot across the border Tuesday, declaring Illinois Democrats are “ready to stand up” and gerrymander a new congressional map if Indiana Republicans follow through with a redistricting plan ordered by President Donald Trump.
Indiana’s House of Representatives approved a bill last week to draw a map expanding the GOP edge in the Hoosier congressional delegation from 7-2 to 9-0.
Indiana Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism over the mid-decade redistricting measure, but it passed a committee vote Monday, teeing it up for potential passage this week.
Pritzker and Illinois’ Democratic legislative leaders have said they don’t want to revisit maps approved in 2021 that already give their party a 14-3 advantage, but they’ve signaled they would move to counter an Indiana remap.
“We’ll see what happens in the end. I know that there are a number of good and loyal and patriotic Americans that are Republicans, part of that Legislature, who have been outspoken in opposition to what the president is trying to do,” the governor said during an unrelated press conference in Little Village.
“But I will be clear to the folks in Indiana that we won’t stand idly by. We’ll see whether we need to take action or not, but we won’t stand idly by, and we will, in fact, stand up for the rights of the people, not just of the state of Illinois, but for the nation,” Pritzker added.
Congressional maps typically are adjusted only at the turn of decades based on the latest U.S. Census figures. Trump has pushed Republican-controlled state legislatures to redraw their maps to add GOP-leaning districts in a no-holds-barred effort to boost his party’s odds of maintaining control of the U.S. House and Senate in next year’s midterm elections.
Republicans have carved out more favorable maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. Democrats have responded in kind in California, as several other states consider joining the map melee.
“Remember, he’s trying to cheat,” Pritzker said of Trump. “He’s been doing this all over the country, trying to cheat. I think that our Midwestern values should dictate that we stand up against it, and I believe that the Indiana Senate will do so, but we’ll have to see. Certainly the Illinois Legislature stands ready to respond if necessary.”
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has lobbied Illinois’ Democratic supermajority to squeeze out at least one more blue seat. Black lawmakers have signaled staunch opposition to any map that might dilute Black representation.
Despite the logistical nightmare and political discomfort of redistricting, top Democrats say it can be done, with Pritzker acknowledging it would be “complex.”
Candidates have already filed to appear on the March 17 primary ballot. Lawmakers who would have to approve new maps are scheduled to return to Springfield in mid-January.