Illinois News

[GALeftist]

Durbin says this like every couple of years and then does nothing. Madigan will swat Pritzker aside quite easily, people in his own state barely even remember that he's governor from what I understand.

[GALeftist]

I like how Democrats will glorify fighting dirty and then turn around and trash Madigan. Not saying I like him, but this is what fighting dirty looks like. You grab power and hold it no matter what.

[GALeftist]

Also, given the fact that we're about to get absolutely clowned on in redistricting (thanks, DLCC), Madigan does deserve some credit from the national party for keeping Illinois from embracing redistricting reform prematurely, although I'm sure he didn't do it for altruistic reasons. The fact remains, though, that Republicans continue to use redistricting to great effect in states like Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Ohio, while there are like five states total where Democrats haven't totally abandoned that particular weapon (especially if Democrats can't eke out a supermajority in the NY State Senate). I'm all for redistricting reform, but it needs to be imposed on the entire nation at the same time imo or Democrats are just showing up to a gun fight with knives.

[GALeftist]

State Rep. Kathleen Willis (D) has announced that she will not vote for Madigan as Speaker-

https://capitolfax.com/2020/12/01/caucus-chair-kathleen-willis-becomes-19th-house-democrat-to-announce-she-wont-vote-to-reelect-madigan/

Willis a member of Democratic House leadership, so this move is fairly significant.

Dang, this is heating up. If Madigan pulls this off it will be one of the best political maneuvers I've seen in my lifetime.

[GALeftist]

Bamboozling Pritzker isn't something one considers when pursuing the 14-3 map... but this does put a smile on my face.

[GALeftist]

Madigan needs to resign, otherwise we're risking someone like Bob Dold or Adam Kinzinger beating J.B Pritzker in 2022.

I highly doubt this happens, and even if it does, it is worth the extremely gerrymandered maps that Madigan will give us, a Governor Dold or Kinzinger would be powerless in the face of a Democratic legislature, while a new leader might not be willing to be as ruthless as Madigan.

You're an objectively bad person if you support Mike Madigan from a distance.

Are all of the Republicans who support Mitch McConnell from a distance, bad people then? You can't just say someone's bad because they like Democratic hacks and not apply the same standards to liking GOP hacks

Mitch McConnell is a national figure.  Madigan only affects residents of Illinois.  Democratic hacks IN ILLINOIS hate him, dude.  He’s a bad person, and your stunt of liking him is not only weird, it’s in bad taste.

Well, that's not entirely true. The maps that Madigan creates affect federal policy, which affects every American.

[GALeftist]

I won't pretend to know enough about Illinois politics to opine on whether Madigan's staying is beneficial or not, either for the Democrats, for Illinois, or for the nation, but I will say that I think it's now fairly unambiguous that he should pass the torch after redistricting at the very least.