Editorial: About your complaints on Trumpian gerrymandering, Gov. Pritzker
No, he's not attending to our egregiously gerrymandered state. He's riled up about mapmaking drama in Texas.
Right now, like other Democratic governors such as Gavin Newsom of California, Pritzker is focused on President Donald Trump's push to get Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP lawmakers to redraw the congressional maps in that state before the 2026 midterm elections. Trump & Co. think they can flip several Democratic seats and give themselves a better chance to keep the GOP's tenuous hold on the U.S. House.
'We have to see what they decide to do about Texas, but I think the president of the United States encouraging Texas — Texas being willing to do this — should be an indicator to the rest of us that if they're going to cheat, that that's not a proper way to act … I think cheating the way the president wants to is improper,' Pritzker said Tuesday at a news conference at Union Station. 'We all ought to stand up against it.'
Yes, good. Indeed we should. But if Pritzker is making a moral case, he should look at his own backyard. Texas, like Illinois, has maps drawn to favor one political party over the other, except that in the Lone Star State, it's Republicans who have the advantage.
Choosing to focus only on Trump and Texas' midterm mapmaking gambit overlooks Illinois' own failures.
Earlier this year, we urged the Illinois Supreme Court to hear a Republican lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's 2021 political maps affecting state legislative districts. The court declined to weigh in, and that was shameful.
Illinois Republicans were quick to seize on Pritzker's appeal to morality and fair play when it comes to another state's gerrymandering efforts while he says nothing about the indefensible gerrymandering in his own state. When he first ran for governor, Pritzker, of course, expressed support for an independent commission to redraw our legislative districts and vowed to veto any partisan map. He quickly broke that promise.
'It's rich that the governor now claims to support playing by the rules after he enthusiastically signed into law the most gerrymandered maps in the nation,' House GOP Leader Tony McCombie said Tuesday.
She's right, of course. Back in March, McCombie and several of her Republican colleagues shared details showing how our skewed maps alter electoral outcomes.
In November 2024, Republicans nationwide saw huge gains, which extended to Illinois. Here, for the Illinois House, Republicans received a total of 45% statewide, a much better showing than in 2020, when the GOP got just 39% of the Illinois House vote.
You'd think those improved numbers would've led to gains in the statehouse, but then you'd be wrong. Nothing changed. Not a single district went from blue to red — or vice versa.
If Pritzker is going to join in with other Democratic governors in midcycle redistricting to respond to Trump's audacious Texas maneuvering, he should spare us the high-minded rhetoric. The redistricting wars are nothing but partisan brawling.
In the meantime, at the state legislative level, Pritzker and his fellow Democrats can claim no moral high ground whatsoever.
Our state has a hope deficit that rigged maps make worse. If the governor is going to respond to Texas by redrawing Illinois' congressional districts, he ought to redraw our state lines as well.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
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