Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in Southern Illinois on Aug. 28, 2025 | Illinois.gov
If you’re not willing to stick around and help make the state better, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says you can “get up and move.”
Pritzker made the comments Thursday afternoon in Southern Illinois when asked about the movement to split the state into two.
“Look, if you want to leave the state, I would like you to stay, I’d like you to get involved and make it a better place by working together with us,” Pritzker said. “But if you want to leave, then get up and move.”
G.H. Merritt, the chairman of New Illinois, a movement to split the state in two, said 70 of the 102 counties in Illinois have a state split movement growing.
“One would think that if you’re at the helm of a state and this is going on, you would at least be a little curious about why are these people thinking this,” Merritt told The Center Square. “Why are these people wanting to do this? He has no curiosity about that.”