Democrats Advance Redistricting Plans to Governor
The Illinois House chamber in Springfield.
Fewer than 24 hours after releasing a second version of a legislative redistricting plan, Democrats advanced a plan for new legislative districts to the desk of Governor JB Pritzker on purely partisan votes.
Democrats said in a release late Thursday that they used American Community Survey data as the basis of the map, but didn’t disclose whether private sources of data were used.
“It’s pretty rich to hear how you all are trying to justify this map,” said Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville). “You can’t justify it on the process, you can only justify it on the policies that you have passed in a gerrymandered supermajority that are out of step with the majority of Illinoisans.”
But Democrats said Republicans are trying to slow down the process long enough to get themselves to the table at a constitutionally mandated bipartisan commission if a new plan isn’t in place by June 30.
“[Republicans] are here tonight to try to get us to run out the clock and hope they can get to a coin flip to get the electoral power that they clearly can’t get through the ballot box,” said House Majority Leader Greg Harris (D-Chicago).
The crux of the issue is the delay in census data, which isn’t available until late August or September.
During floor debate, House Redistricting Committee chair Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero) admitted some districts were drawn with the partisan makeup of the district in mind.
Governor JB Pritzker, who previously reversed course on comments about vetoing a partisan map, is expected to sign the measures. The maps will then likely wind up in court.