Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois ducked questions from “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday about Illinois’ heavily-gerrymandered congressional map while claiming Republicans are trying to “steal seats” in Texas.
Numerous Democrats in the Texas state legislature fled to Democrat-controlled Illinois in an effort to thwart a GOP redistricting proposal that could net Republicans up to five seats in the House of Representatives. Pritzker retreated to making claims about Republicans in Texas violating the Voting Rights Act without offering proof after Welker displayed the map Illinois enacted prior to the 2022 midterm elections, which took out two Republican seats.
“Well, look, sticking on your state’s map, every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps gives your state an F,” Welker told Pritzker. “Common Cause, a non-partisan watchdog even says your map, and I’ll quote, ‘Represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go wrong with redistricting,’ and I guess the question is, you talk about preserving democracy, how do you preserve democracy, if you’re using the same tactics that you criticize Texas Republicans for?”
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“As I say, what they’re talking about is a distraction. The reality is the violation of people’s voting rights is what Texas is attempting to do,” Pritzker claimed. “That’s what’s wrong with their efforts right now and the fact that the president of the United States knows it and nevertheless, is asking them to do it. That is what’s wrong with what we’re seeing right now. Democracy is at stake and these Texas Democrats are standing up to what the GOP is attempting to do which is to — to steal seats because they know what they’ve done is wrong. They know that they’ve made an enormous mistake.”
Redistricting is the re-drawing of a state’s congressional districts and state and local districts that is required to take place after the Census, which occurs every ten years as required by the Constitution.
Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project gave Illinois an “F” grade for the maps Pritzker signed into law in November 2021. Pritzker had called for “an independent commission” to handle redistricting during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
President Donald Trump won 43.5% of the vote in Illinois during the 2024 presidential election after receiving 40.6% in the 2020 election, according to Ballotpedia.
In addition to Illinois re-drawing its maps to give Democrats an edge in House races, New York re-drew its congressional districts after the 2022 midterm elections, creating a map that endangered as many as six out of the 11 Republicans elected to the House of Representatives that year. A group backed by left-wing billionaire activist George Soros, as well as former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas’s political action committee, Powered by People, have helped to fund the Texas Democrats who fled the state, according to The Texas Tribune.
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