*** UPDATED x1 *** More remap stuff
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* New York Times…
Illinois Democrats on Friday proposed a new set of highly gerrymandered congressional maps that would consolidate Democratic power in the state’s congressional delegation, most likely cutting the number of Republican seats in the state to three from five.
Only if you’re looking at presidential results…
2022 is an off-year election and President Biden’s trend ain’t the Democrats’ friend. And many (not all) congressional Dems underperformed Biden last year. Not saying that this map wouldn’t result in 14-3, but it ain’t a slam dunk when you factor in reality. A bunch of those districts could be tossups.
* Not sure why counties are always supposed to be kept together, but OK…
* Koutsky has close ties to a top Durbin person…
Yet if Republicans found that map absurd, they will be even more offended by a new proposal.
Crafted by Zach Koutsky, a longtime Illinois Democratic operative, it appeared on the state Legislature’s online portal late Friday night.
The more aggressive map is even more contorted than the first — though perhaps more effective at delivering seats for Democrats. It was crafted in consultation with national Democrats, according to a source familiar with its origin.
In this proposal, Bustos’ northwest Illinois district stretches across the state’s northern border, grabbing the city of Rockford and dipping into Lake County to pick up some of the city of Waukegan. It also loops the Democratic-leaning cities downstate into two districts: one snaking from East St. Louis to Springfield to Decatur, and another that stretches from Peoria to Bloomington to Champaign.
That would leave just two deep-red seats for the state’s current Republican members. Democrats could conceivably take 15 of the 17 districts in the next election under this map.
* Wasserman, who is better at numbers than political analysis, wasn’t impressed by the effort…
* Question from Crain’s…
Will the Dems’ new map survive the week?
This is not intended to be the final map. The chair of the House Redistricting Committee specifically called the proposal a “first draft” on Friday. So, no, it won’t survive. By design.
* The truth is, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can submit a map, and several will before this is over…
* And some tweeters actually thought this obvious spoof was for real, which I thought was hilarious…
*** UPDATE *** AP…
A lawsuit seeks to block new Illinois state legislative district maps, saying Black residents of East St. Louis were unconstitionally split up into multiple House districts to help white Democratic incumbents in neighboring districts win reelection.
The federal lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the East St. Louis Branch NAACP, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP and the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations. It says race played a role in the redistricting of House District 114, which is currently represented by Rep. LaToya Greenwood, who is Black. According to the lawsuit, one-fifth of the district’s Black voting-age population was moved into two nearby districts under the new legislative maps that Democrats approved and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law last month as part of redistricting. Thousands of white voters were added to District 114, which the plaintiffs say jeopardizes the prospects of a candidate preferred by Black voters. The district has been represented by a Black legislator for decades, the lawsuit states.
…Adding… The filing is here.
