Illinois Democrats rejected a mid-cycle redistricting plan cooked up by U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to maximize Democratic partisan advantage in the state’s congressional district map. The reason? They don’t want to endanger their safe seats.
By Joe Tabor | Illinois Policy Institute
Opposition from Illinois Democrats has stalled a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts as proposed by U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to counter midcycle gerrymanders in Republican-controlled states.
Democrats are right to oppose the plan that would make Illinois’ unfair map even worse. But reporting suggests their chief concern is not that the plan would disenfranchise even more voters, but the possibility of facing increased competition for their own seats.
“We have to look out and protect who we have because we fought hard to get them in,” U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Chicago, said, referring to fears that Democrats would also face more highly contested races if Republican-leaning districts were made more Democratic. “I’m not a mapmaker, but it seems like it will be very difficult.”
Kelly isn’t wrong. Illinois is already considered one of the most gerrymandered congressional maps in the country, according to Princeton’s Gerrymandering Project. Illinois received failing grades in partisan fairness, competitiveness and geographic features, or “compactness.” In simple terms, that’s how oddly the districts are shaped.
It also has one of the most unfair maps based on the Michigan State University and University of Michigan’s partisan advantage tracker. Only one of Illinois 2026 U.S. House races is considered competitive by the Cook Political Report. Even then, that race, the 17th District currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Eric Sorenson, D-Rockford, is a “likely Democrat” victory.
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