Democrats in One Blue State Push Back Against Redistricting Demands From Hakeem Jeffries – RedState
Amid Schumer’s shutdown, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) reportedly pushed Illinois Democrats to participate in the redistricting plan to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor more Democrats in response to Republican redistricting efforts in Texas.
But some in Jeffries’ party don’t believe it.
Jeffries wants Illinois to follow the lead of states like California, which has taken steps to further streamline its districts to give Democrats even more representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Illinois, the congressional district map already ridiculously and overwhelmingly favors Democrats 14-3.
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However, according to Capitol News Illinois, some Democrats in the state see no reason to agree to Jeffries’ demands.
“I think there’s virtually no appetite to do it,” an unnamed Democratic lawmaker told the outlet. Another noted: “There is no world where I see this happening. »
On top of that, black elected officials expressed concern that if they accepted the plan, a new map could dilute the black vote.
NEWS: IL Senate Black Caucus has warning for Hakeem Jeffries + Dems pushing for redistricting
He will not support any map that dilutes the black vote in a historically black district.
Chair @SenWPrestonIL: We will fight back. We simply won’t do it at the expense of our own power
– Ally Mutnick (@allymutnick) October 22, 2025
Congressional candidate and Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, chairman of the Illinois Senate Legislative Black Caucus, told Punchbowl News they will “fight back. We’re just not going to do it at the expense of our own power.”
The Capitol News report continues:
Currently, three of the state’s congressional districts are at least 40 percent African American, according to U.S. Census data, and Illinois has four black representatives in Congress.
But a more aggressive gerrymander would likely require these majority-minority, majority-Democratic districts to absorb additional rural areas of the majority-white state that vote overwhelmingly Republican.
SEE: Greg Abbott shuts down Gavin Newsom and the runaway Texas Democrats with a hilarious and brutal message
ALSO: Missouri enters redistricting discussion as Gavin Newsom’s war blows up in its face
Punchbowl News shared that another major obstacle is that there is little to no time to put a new card on the agenda:
The state Legislature is expected to act very quickly on the new map or move up the date of its primaries to next year. Lawmakers will have a veto session next week. Jeffries tried to influence that, but Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker may have more influence.
Pritzker recently avoided giving a direct answer to the question of whether he supports gerrymandering.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on gerrymandering: “In general, I don’t think mid-decade redistricting for political purposes is something a state should do. That’s why I have to say, if we’re forced to…we can.”pic.twitter.com/vWy1omeB2K
– Quotes from Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) October 15, 2025
“In general, I don’t think mid-decade redistricting for political purposes is something a state should do,” Pritzker said. “That’s why I have to say that if we are forced to…we can” redraw the lines that would allow Illinois Democrats to potentially win another seat.
Editor’s Note: Schumer’s closure is here. Rather than putting the American people first, Chuck Schumer and radical Democrats forced a government shutdown on health care for illegal immigrants. They own that.
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