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Column: Illinois, Texas both need remap reform

Column: Illinois, Texas both need remap reform

Chicago Tribune2 days ago
Nearly a thousand miles and opposite sides of the political spectrum separate Illinois and Texas. Yet there's one thing Democrats in the Land of Lincoln and Republicans in the Lone Star State can agree on: Gerrymandering works.
For political operatives, the crafting of partisan redistricting maps is the miracle elixir that cures party ills and keeps politicians entrenched for generations. Like in Illinois and Texas.
Which is why dozens of Texas Democrats have fled Austin, the state capitol, and are glamping in Chicagoland. They do not want to be part of a legislative quorum, which would allow the state's Republicans to redistrict upward of five new bright-red congressional districts.
On its face, it seems supremely unfair attempting to wipe out constitutional guarantees of 'one man, one vote,' which is core to our democratic institutions. Instead of redistricting, both Illinois and Texas need remap reform.
Under the Texas two-step of Gov. Greg Abbott, he who bused Illinois thousands of asylum seekers in recent years, we are told will give the administration of President Donald Trump additional seats in the U.S. House — Texas currently has 35 — in order to push through any wacky proposals he can come up with. So far, there have been plenty that have squeaked through the House and Senate with the help of Trump-friendly lawmakers.
Texas Democrats setting up their rump headquarters in Illinois, at least through Aug. 19, is the latest foray in this battle of political wills. After all, we are a sanctuary state, and all are welcome.
Notice these Dems didn't abscond to Oklahoma or Arkansas to boycott their legislative session. They made a beeline here and have been garnering much media play with Illinois Democrats by their side, denouncing Trump and this vote grab.
Indeed, lame-duck Sen. Dick Durbin said the other day the opposition to the remap is not alone to Texas: 'This is an American issue, where we have to stand together for the families of this country.'
But he would be so eloquent for families in Illinois who have seen their votes diluted over the years through the gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts. It's not that this isn't well-known.
Gov. JB Pritzker, who signed the 2021 redistricting bill into law which has locked in Democrats' super-majorities in the Legislature, has warned if Texas goes through with this questionable mid-term redistricting, Illinois could do the same. Unsure where those additional blue seats would come from.
Of our 17 congressional districts, 14 are ruled by Democrats. That's an 82% majority.
Gerrymandering has been around since the nascent days of the republic. The term combines the name of Elbridge Gerry with salamander and is considered anathema to those who seek to keep that elusive 'one man, one vote' in play.
Gerry, an early patriot during the American Revolution who eventually became a vice president, was governor of Massachusetts in 1812 when he signed a bill that created a partisan House district in the Boston area that opponents compared to the shape of a salamander. Sort of like the looks of the 5th Congressional District represented by Chicago Democrat Mike Quigley.
Quigley's district snakes from deep inside Wrigleyville on Chicago's North Side through Skokie, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, and eventually finding its way into a sliver of Lake County, with 5.62% of its electorate. Lake County towns include Lake Zurich, Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Barrington, Kildeer, and Deer Park.
Besides being potential voters, what those Lake County communities have in common with Chicagoans only Springfield's Democrat political mapmakers know for certain. Perhaps many once lived in the big city and bolted for the suburbs.
State Democrats have voiced concerns that the Republican remap of Texas' congressional districts would be unconstitutional for violating federal voting protections in minority-majority districts. They do this while ignoring what has been done in Illinois, where the redistricting maps were drawn after the 2020 census, not in the middle of the decade.
To end this political theater in the future and to install fairness back in the process, there needs to be an independent, nationwide mapmaking system to consider congressional and legislative districts every decade. Talk of remap retaliation by elected leaders in Illinois, California, New York and others sounds like we're living in a banana republic instead of a constitutional one.
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