When was the last time IL had a popular governor? Jim Edgar? The Chicago burbs have to be hardest to please constituency in the nation.
Yeah, Edgar was the last truly popular governor and the last good one. To some degree, I think Illinois has learned to expect s****y government, and it can be surprisingly swingy in midterms. I wouldn't be surprised if Republicans pick up several legislative seats in 2022. Maybe even a congressional seat on a good night.
Illinois' midterm behavior is very odd. The state has had a pretty consistent partisan lean over the last 20 years, always 11-14 points to the left of the nation, with the exception of 2008 with Obama, and it does not seem particularly elastic.
It's almost as if a switch flips with a lot of Chicagoland voters as soon as Democrats are in charge, irrespective of the nation environment. Like it's not persuasion, it feels like these voters actually follow the DEMOCRAT MIDTERM, MUST VOTE GOP meme, where their default is GOP and the Dems have to persuade them back.
