On Thursday’s broadcast of Chicago PBS station WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight,” Senate Minority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that there was “a good-faith effort” with drawing Illinois’ congressional maps, but “It is a partisan process in our state,” but “what are we going to do, wave the white flag and say, we’re going to go to an independent commission, but all of the red states can continue to choose political maps? I wouldn’t support that.”
Host Brandis Friedman asked, “14 of the 17 House members from Illinois are Democrats. That means Republicans make up just under 18% of the Illinois delegation.
Trump won nearly 44% of the vote in Illinois. Are Democrats in Illinois just as guilty of redrawing the maps to their benefit as they are accusing Texans of being?”
Durbin responded, “Well, wherever you draw it, and, certainly, in Illinois, you have to meet certain standards. If you’re discriminating against groups, denying them their vote or their vote counting, that can stop a map, and it has in many, many states. We’ve passed that test, and it’s an indication of a good-faith effort on our part. But let me be candid with you. It is a partisan process in our state, and all but other — you look at the other states, there are about eight of them where it isn’t. So, the question is, what are we going to do, wave the white flag and say, we’re going to go to an independent commission, but all of the red states can continue to choose political maps? I wouldn’t support that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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