SPRINGFIELD — State Republicans on Thursday appeared emboldened by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s protracted, President Donald Trump-approved battle to net Texas five additional GOP seats and vowed Illinois has a chance to flip red on the heels of Trump supporters, despite a glaring lack of statewide candidates and little financial support.
Redistricting was a large focus at an annual gathering of the state party’s central committee and the Republican County Chair’s Association in Springfield, which kicked off Republican Day with a pre-taped message from Abbott that dubbed his push “fair” and “necessary” setting the tone for the day.
“I will continue to call special session after special session, until we get these maps passed,” Abbott said to cheers.
Texas Republican Party Chair Abraham George, a guest speaker, took aim at Illinois’ congressional maps, describing districts as “an anaconda moving from one end of the state.” He said Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are in a competition “to out destroy their states.”
“You guys have an awesome opportunity. You’re at 43% in the Republican. That’s not a blue state anymore. That’s a purple state. This state can flip to Republican pretty fast, as long as Pritzker keep[s] doing what he’s doing and Gavin Newsom is doing what he’s doing,” George said. “I think people are going to see right through them, and I think Illinois is going to flip to a Republican state very soon.”
Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, squashed that unlikely characterization, at least in the “near future.” Illinois has Democratic representation in all statewide elected positions, in the Senate and in 14 of 17 congressional districts.
“Well, the near future, as in maybe the next election? Probably not,” McCombie said.
Still, the House leader said Trump’s swell of support in Illinois in 2024, an additional 70,000 Republican votes, shows conservative support in the state is growing and deserves more representation.
“Political gerrymandering should not be happening anywhere. We need a free and independent map. The governor went against his word when he was running. He said, ‘I am not going to sign a map that is developed by legislators,’ and he did, and that’s [what] all this hubbub is,” McCombie said. “It’s kind of ironic that Texas Democrats are coming to Illinois. There’s certainly a better state they could have went to.”
Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi also bemoaned the Illinois map and congressional delegation.
“I applaud Texas. They have an open, bipartisan, independent commission that chooses a fair map and it’s an open process,” Salvi said. “In Illinois, that’s not a thing. It’s the most gerrymandered, rigged map.”
McCombie was asked whether Pritzker is “bluffing” when it comes to a potential re-map should Texas follow through on new GOP congressional districts.
“I don’t know how you could find more seats,” McCombie said. “I don’t know how. Here in Illinois there’s no more seats to be found.”
Texas House Democrats on Thursday afternoon said they will return home if the Legislature adjourns its special session on Friday — and when California introduces its own redistricting maps that would “neutralize the Trump-Abbott voter suppression effort.”
With Newsom taking meetings with Democrats about a potential November statewide referendum that would create new congressional maps, Pritzker on Thursday said he’s waiting to see what happens in Texas and California before taking any action.
“Look, we have to see what actually happens in Texas. So there’s been no movement forward. But as you know, we’ve left all the options on the table,” Pritzker said. “Our first option, which we took, was to house and protect the Texas House Democrats and as long as they want to stay, we will do that. And then we’ll have to consider what happens in Texas and what happens in California also, in order to consider what our next steps are.”