Illinois News

[RINO Tom]

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.

[lfromnj]

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.

I don't see why its wrong to want a strong gerrymander to counter GOP gerrymandering in the rest of the nation?

Besides MD dems  most other Democrats won't go as far as Madigan would. Suburban white moderates took away that power from Democrats in Virginia for example.

[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.

[Zaybay]

What I find odd is this prevalent idea that Madigan is the only one who can draw a strong gerrymander and this even weirder implication that, if he leaves, the entire rest of the party will just fold and draw a fair map or something.

Madigan has a lot of influence and strength, but he's not some god. Most of the redistricting decisions are made between the members of his caucus discussing who they want to take out, what areas they want to represent, what areas they don't want to have in their districts anymore, etc. Its not Madigan just handing out decrees from Mt. Olympus on who gets to go where, its a group discussion that leads to a group decision.

Hell, if anything, Madigan being a rather old-age party boss hurts the Dems more than it helps, since Madigan's goal when it comes to input is to get his cronies back in office, not to benefit Democrats as a whole. The entire reason Newman may be trashed in the next map is not cause its a politically smart move for the map, but instead because Madigan's goon Lipinski was taken out by her.

In all honesty, Madigan has pretty much out-lived any sort of usefulness he had for the caucus and should just go. We can draw a perfectly good map, and perhaps an even better one, without him.

[lfromnj]

What I find odd is the idea that Madigan is the only one who can draw a strong gerrymander and this weird implication that, if he leaves, the entire rest of the party will just fold and draw a fair map or something.

Madigan has a lot of influence and strength, but he's not some god. Most of the redistricting decisions are made between the members of his caucus discussing who they want to take out, what areas they want to represent, what areas they don't want to have in their districts anymore, etc. Its not Madigan just handing out decrees from Mt. Olympus on who gets to go where, its a group discussion that leads to a group decision.

No of course the rest of the party will still draw a big gerrymander but if you don't think some of these progressive or even moderate suburbanite legislators are against gerrymandering ( see virginia amendment 1) that's foolish.

[Zaybay]

What I find odd is the idea that Madigan is the only one who can draw a strong gerrymander and this weird implication that, if he leaves, the entire rest of the party will just fold and draw a fair map or something.

Madigan has a lot of influence and strength, but he's not some god. Most of the redistricting decisions are made between the members of his caucus discussing who they want to take out, what areas they want to represent, what areas they don't want to have in their districts anymore, etc. Its not Madigan just handing out decrees from Mt. Olympus on who gets to go where, its a group discussion that leads to a group decision.

No of course the rest of the party will still draw a big gerrymander but if you don't think some of these progressive or even moderate suburbanite legislators are against gerrymandering ( see virginia amendment 1) that's foolish.

Not only does Virginia have nothing to do with this (slim D majority sees a couple of defections to united GOP proposition vs large D majority with a history of listening from on-high), but in the end their opinion either doesn't matter or is easily swayed by them just getting a safer seat.

Madigan isn't needed anymore, plain and simple.

[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.

[PSOL]

The current map is fine tbh, what is clear now is that for the good of the state, Madigan needs to get the boot before he does any more serious damage.

[Oregon Eagle Politics]

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.

Illinoisan here, before COVID, JB was relatively unknown, but now that it happened, more people know about him.

[Gracile]

^Suburban Democratic organizations have been trying to make a big push to get their voters to elect candidates for Township offices (trustee, clerk, etc.). In places like DuPage, they are now running full slates when in previous years (as late as 2017) many of those offices were uncontested - that combined with the GOP's former institutional advantage in the Collars and low turnout helped Republicans maintain these offices.

It will interesting to see the results. A sweep for Democratic-aligned candidates is not unlikely given the shift in these high-propensity voters preferences' toward Democrats at higher levels of government, though the advantage some of the Republican-aligned incumbents have is not insignificant.

[Green Line]

Oak Park residents are voting on a question today:

“Shall the Village of Oak Park defund its Police Department?”

Joe Biden received 89% of the vote in the city last November.  Will be interesting to see if this passes.  It is a non-binding referendum.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/ct-oak-defund-police-ballot-tl-0325-20210323-xidm3ddfejalnmr3m5isjaq67a-story.html

[Roll Roons]

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin (R) is currently cruising to reelection. A moderate black Republican and Gulf War vet with experience winning in a diverse suburban city. Couldn't think of a better candidate for higher office if I tried.

[Green Line]

2 1/2 hours after the polls closed, Cook County has yet to report a single vote.

[Green Line]

Defund the Police losing 31%-69% in Oak Park, IL (voted 89% Biden).

Keith Pekau leading in Orland Park with 3 precincts remaining.

Indicted Crestwood Mayor, Lou Presta, winning reelection with 63%(!!!) of the vote.