On Wednesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) defended Illinois’ congressional maps by arguing that “Just because you’ve got more Democrats than Republicans elected doesn’t mean that it’s an unfair map. The fact of the matter is, that there were competitive elections in 2022” with the map and Republicans “don’t win here because their ideas are bad.”
Co-host Juana Summers asked, [relevant exchange begins around 4:00] “[H]as redistricting resulted in fair representation for the minority party in your state?”
Pritzker answered, “Just because you’ve got more Democrats than Republicans elected doesn’t mean that it’s an unfair map. The fact of the matter is, that there were competitive elections in 2022, which is the first election we had after the map was drawn, and Democrats won those seats. Furthermore, I’d just point out that these same Republicans who are complaining about the way maps are drawn in Democratic states, they’re the ones drawing maps in their states that are quite unfair. It isn’t the case, though, let’s be clear, that, just because you have more of one party than another in a state, that it’s an unfair map. And in Illinois, Republicans have every opportunity to run for and win office. They don’t win here because their ideas are bad. And by the way, they’re about to lose elections in 2026 because of the big, ugly bill, because of the policies of Donald Trump, and they’re trying to change the game. Indeed, they’re trying to cheat midstream.”
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