* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked yesterday in southern Illinois about the people pushing counties to vote on seceding from Illinois and forming their own state or joining another one…
I think partisans and people who don’t support the fact that this is mostly a Democratic state are looking for any way to get attention, and so they talk about and push the idea that somehow counties in Illinois are going to leave, get up and join another state. That’s not going to happen. That’s not how it works.
You know, if they really want to get involved, they should actually show up, vote, make sure that their voices are heard. I’ve done that my whole life. I think I’ve been in areas, lived in areas that were Republican controlled as a Democrat.
You’ve got to speak up. You’ve got to talk to people. I listen to Republicans all the time. You have a state Senator here, Dale Fowler, who’s been a partner of mine in bringing economic development to the area, bringing more investment in our state parks. And I’ve worked, we’ve worked closely together. We believe in, you know, that roads, state parks, these are not partisan endeavors. These are bipartisan things that everybody needs, no matter what party you belong to.
So, I’m going to continue to act in that fashion, and I’m sorry that people want to make a spectacle of themselves by claiming that they’re going to leave the state. 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. But if you want to leave, then get up and move. And there’s no chance that you’re going to pick up a county and have it join another state.
Discuss.
- Irreverent - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:23 pm:
If downstate Illinois were to make their own state, they would be the poorest and most useless state in the nation.
Downstate Illinois as their own state would make Mississippi look good.
Anyone in Indiana who can do basic math (granted, those are few and far between at this point) does not want to be responsible for floating downstate Illinois.
- Johnny B - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:28 pm:
People in Southern Illinois should step up and make sure their voices are heard?
To whom exactly
JB redistricted 2 of their Republican Congressman out of office with his gerrymandered maps he promised to veto
- H-W - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:29 pm:
What I like about this narrative, it that it dismissed the partisanship and dismisses the thesis that we must be either red or blue. That’s not how social life works, and it never has worked that way. There was a time in our past when we were not pitted against each other, and a time when we were not pitting ourselves against each other. We used to live in communities, not on the internet and in front of for-profit media advertising platforms.
We can be that again, and I have no doubt we will become community-minded again.
As to the ‘if you want to move, move’ idea, I have moved many times. That too is an American way of life. I came to Illinois when I was 37. Moving to a place we feel more kinship is not a political act, and doesn’t have to be defined that way.
- JS Mill - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:34 pm:
@H-W, well said. Same goes for the governor.
- Da Burden - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:40 pm:
Ditto JS Mill and especially H-W’s sentiment that we can and should stop entrenching in camps pitted against each other.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:41 pm:
“But if you want to leave, then get up and move.
Are the anti-snowflakes melting down? Chicago ain’t going anywhere. Don’t like it to, the point of secession? Pretend to be religious but hate thy neighbors? Then yeah, leave.
- The Dude Abides - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:45 pm:
=Ditto JS Mill and especially H-W’s sentiment that we can and should stop entrenching in camps pitted against each other=
Republicans have to take the first step in coming back to reality and acknowledging the basic humanity of people they disagree with. Until then, any attempts towards true non-partisanship is a non-starter.
- Anotheretiree - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:47 pm:
@Irreverent, are you aure ? It will take a lot to dethrone Mississippi.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:56 pm:
You have a state Senator here, Dale Fowler, who’s been a partner of mine So I bet Dale Fowler is getting a primary challenger soon.
- Big Tent - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:57 pm:
“You know, if they really want to get involved, they should actually show up, vote, make sure that their voices are heard.”
You have to wonder if he gave the same advice to the Dems from Texas, who accepted his invite to hideout in Illinois.
- NIU Grad - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
Frankly, JB has done more for many of these counties than the wannabe secessionists who have built political careers on whining and turning their communities against others in the state. That includes Rep. Mary Miller who consistently votes against funding for her district and doesn’t sign on to letters seeking federal resources.
- CA-HOON - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
Galling for JB to say we need to “step up”. We’ve got “seccessionist” counties partly because the dems have ZERO outreach down here.
It’s also getting tiresome hearing about “tHeY vOtEd fOr tHiS” when the democratic party doesn’t even bother to put up candidates, and the ones that do get on the ballot are self-supported and get *nothing* from state or national Dems. Terri Bryant ran un-opposed. Mike Bost might as well have run un-opposed the last 4 cycles, and will likely coast to victory again next year due to lack of alternative candidates.
I would vote for just about *anyone* at this point who isn’t a MAGA arsonist, but there are NO other candidates to vote for. Yeah I get it’s gerrymandered that way on purpose but was the intention always for Dems to give up on trying to persuade working class people and farmers from this region? Was it always the intention to lump normal people in with MAGA and dismiss the region as a whole?
Speaking as a Jackson Co. resident I would love to be able to vote for someone who would be in the mold of Fowler (who was awesome, I wish he were my senator instead of Bryant) but the GOP is full MAGA now, and Dems refuse to fund any local candidates, so wtf are we supposed to do?
Anyway, when Dale Fowler is gone next year is there anyone left in the So-ILL delegation willing to even be seen with Pritzker? I know Friess and Bryant are no-gos, is there anyone else who isn’t simply a MAGA complainer? I doubt it simply based on the fact that the Dems completely abandoned this region to MAGA. Easier to make jokes from all the way up in Sangamon or Cook than to put any effort into a ground operation here that might actually sway people (especially now given how vulnerable the GOP is now because of the Big Fugly Bill and the rampant consumer taxes (aka tariffs), to say nothing of the authoritarian flexing with the masked thugs in body armor.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 12:59 pm:
The Governor was in Jefferson County this week to tout a manufacturing expansion and Gallatin County for a ground breaking on a significant investing in infrastructure for that region that will bring jobs and make agriculture, et al, more competitive in the region.
The Governor is not popular in those counties. The Governor did not win those counties in his campaign. If you think about what that means, it means they looked at Darren Baily and still said “yeah! that’s the guy for the job”
The Governor, his administration, and the Democratic controlled legislature has done more for those counties — this week — than the people who are advocating for succeeding from the state.
The Governor is absolutely right in his assessment, “are looking for any way to get attention.” These folks are at best self serving attention seekers and at worst feeding into a culture of grievance and training people to ignore and spurn the folks that actually show up to help and make an effort to improve their lives and livelihoods.
- CA-HOON - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
Correction: Mike Bost might as well have run un-opposed for the last *three* cycles, not four. Brandon Kelly in 2018 was the last candidate who got support from the state and national party.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 1:05 pm:
===bet Dale Fowler is getting a primary challenger soon. ===
He’s retiring, which is why it was safe to finally say it. lol
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 1:56 pm:
===We’ve got “seccessionist” counties partly because the dems have ZERO outreach down here===
The statewide elected officials spend a lot of time in Southern Illinois and other traditionally down state counties.
===Dems refuse to fund any local candidates, so wtf are we supposed to do? ===
This is an odd expectation. You expect someone else to come into your community and organize a political campaign for you in order to satisfy interests?
I think you’re identifying part of the problem with the secessionist minded folks. Everything is always someone else’s fault.
Who better to convince your neighbors to stop voting against their own interests than you?
Sending them 18 flashy post cards probably isn’t going to do it.
- low level - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 2:00 pm:
==Brandon Kelly in 2018 was the last candidate who got support from the state and national party.==
How did he do in the general election with that support?
- thisjustinagain - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 2:22 pm:
I’m voting with my feet, if I can pull it off. While I participate in elections, taxes, crime, woke laws, corruption and more are pushing me out.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 2:31 pm:
===How did he do in the general election with that support?===
He’s the Director of the Illinois State Police, so I think he did pretty good. Running for congress is a really hard way to apply for jobs, though, so I certainly understand why there aren’t a lot of folks wanting to run for congress in a district where even Jesse White didn’t win.
It broke 71% for Trump.
Says a lot about those folks, doesn’t it?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 2:44 pm:
===so I think he did pretty good===
Good candidate, wrong district.
- Demoralized - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 3:05 pm:
==I’m voting with my feet, if I can pull it off==
Bye.
- Demoralized - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 3:07 pm:
I’ve said this forever. If you don’t like it then leave. Nobody is forcing you to stay. I don’t have a lot of patience for people who want to complain that because they don’t get their way that their voices aren’t being heard. Your voice is heard. You just don’t like it that they aren’t doing what you want. So, if you want to take your ball and go home then by all means go. You won’t be missed.
- Shytown - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 3:19 pm:
Saying that this administration or Gov hasn’t been helping communities downstate etc is pure hogwash. Anyone who pays an iota of attention to the gov’s calendar and that of agency leaders know that they are all over the state and are very intentional about their engagement to communities outside of chicago - and the state has helped recruit and expand bizs to communities across the state. So let’s stop with the false narratives. If you don’t like him, fine. But don’t make sh*t up.
- ProblemChild99 - Friday, Aug 29, 25 @ 3:23 pm:
The leaving is the takeaway from the statement and Pritzker is right - the time to get out of Illinois is now and all the smart money senses and is planning - see Citadel, CAT, Boeing, downtown condo prices, census.
IL is in terminal decline that is going to accelerate.