Ever since Texas decided that it was going to redraw its district maps, Democrats have been having a meltdown.
I don’t like gerrymandering at all, but the Democrats have some of the worst gerrymandered maps in the country, and I would include existing California and Illinois maps as some of the worst.
After California said it was going to tinker with its maps even further, Illinois appears to have suddenly backed out of its plan.
In one breath, Democrats said what Texas was doing was illegal.
In the very next breath, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California was going to do the same thing.
Not only that, former President Barack Obama has announced that he is fully behind the scheme, even taking out ads to get Californians to back Prop 50, the gerrymandering proposition.
In his video backing the plan, Obama stated, “California, the whole nation is counting on you. Democracy is on the ballot.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed Texas lawmakers to his state when they staged a walkout to protest the new maps in their home state.
At the time, he stated, "Trump came up with a new scheme to rig the system by ramming through a corrupt, mid-decade redistricting plan that would steal five congressional seats, silencing millions of voters, especially Black and Latino voters.”
Pritzker’s current maps are among the worst gerrymandered in the country, but he stated that new maps were “on the table” if need be.
It would appear that Pritzker is now facing resistance to his plan from within.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has been trying to get Illinois lawmakers on board with redoing their maps, but he has not had much success.
A House Democrat observed, “I think there is next to zero appetite to do it. There is no world where I see this happening.”
One of the biggest sources of resistance is the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, which believes spreading out the districts, and by default, the black vote, would minimize the power they now have in the state. Democrat state Sen. Willie Preston noted, “We’re going to fight back. We just won’t do so at the expense of our own power.”
This is going to make the 2026 cycle very interesting. As far as Dems appear to be concerned, if they lose, they still win because they get to say that Trump rigged the election.
