Democratic state legislators approved a new map of the Illinois’ congressional boundaries early Friday morning, their fourth version of a plan designed to overcome internal disputes and maintain party control of the state’s Washington delegation.
The latest map moves freshman U.S. Rep. Marie Newman into a district held by U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García that has a Latino population of nearly 67%. It also creates two potential one-on-one Republican primary contests.
It was the third time that various incarnations of the map placed Newman, a freshman legislator from La Grange, into a potential primary matchup with a different incumbent.
The Senate voted 41-18 along party lines late Thursday to approve the map, sending it to the House which followed on a post-midnight Democratic-led vote of 71-43 — the bare minimum number of votes required for passage. The map now goes to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is expected to sign it into law.
Democratic state Rep. Angie Guerrero-Cuellar, who took over the district formerly held by embattled former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, voted against the map, contending it did not do enough to shore up Latino representation in Washington for her Southwest Side district.
But Democratic leaders touted the new map and its recognition of Latino population growth in the state.
“The map before us today is based on the totality of the input we received from the public, from members of the General Assembly, from stakeholders, from community groups, from communities of interest and I stand behind that map,” Democratic Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park said. “It’s a good map. It’s a fair map. It reflects the diversity of the state of Illinois and gives voice to communities of interest.”
Republicans blasted the map, with Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington saying it “throws gasoline on that already lit fire of cynicism.”
“You’re complicit in the mood of the country that says, ‘Stop being so divisive. Stop creating battle lines between the two sides and the two parties. Quit making everything about politics,” Barickman said of Democrats.
Democrats late Wednesday had released the third iteration of 17 new congressional boundaries, and tensions were quick to build within the party with objections from both suburban and Latino factions.
But after a day of up-and-down negotiations, a fourth version of the map surfaced and appeared to calm many concerns.
Originally at issue was the pairing of two incumbent Democrats — Newman and two-term U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove — into a single suburban district to accommodate creation of a new open-seat district to reflect the state’s growing Latino population.
Both Newman and Casten were unhappy with the map, which would put them in a newly configured west and southwest suburban 6th District. So were other Democrats who questioned why the party that controls the state would pit two incumbents against each other even as Democrats are making gains in traditionally Republican suburbs.
Under the map produced late Thursday and approved by legislators, Casten would have his own district, running from DuPage County to the southwest suburbs of Chicago.
The new Latino influence district was accomplished by taking the northwest portion of the current 4th District held by García and stretching it westward into DuPage County to include Latino communities in Bensenville, Addison and West Chicago.
Democrats hold a 13-5 advantage over Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation, but Illinois is losing one seat due to its first-ever decline in population. Democrats are looking at creating a 14-3 advantage as part of an effort by the party nationally to retain its narrow control of the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections.
The latest revisions of the map appeared to make an effort at bolstering support for two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville by shifting her district south to pick up parts of more Democratic Will County. Underwood narrowly survived a 2020 reelection in a district that took in a sizable chunk of Republican territory in the north suburbs.
But Underwood’s political team used the map’s release for a fundraising effort, saying it would make her “one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Illinois delegation” with more than 70% of her district being new territory.
The map going to Pritzker’s desk puts six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon into a district with four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood. The district would stretch from the Wisconsin border south to include areas surrounding the Democratic-leaning cities of Rockford, Peoria and Bloomington.
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Rep. Mary Miller, a controversial freshman Republican from Oakland in east central Illinois who has embraced the far-right elements of the Republican Party, would still be in a district that extends into a far southern Illinois area represented by four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.
Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville, who has been considering a bid for the Republican nomination for governor if Democrats put him in a district that would make reelection difficult, would remain in a solidly Republican central Illinois district that stretches from the Mississippi River to the Indiana border under the latest revision.
Earlier Thursday, Harmon acknowledged that no matter what map is approved, “no one is going to be 100% happy with it. That is the nature of the legislative process. That is the nature of compromise.”
“But I hope that everyone feels represented for the next 10 years in the General Assembly and in Congress as well or better than you have been before,” Harmon said.