
SPRINGFIELD — Democrats continue to hold a supermajority in the Illinois House thanks to illegally gerrymandered House districts, House Republicans allege in a new lawsuit filed with the Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleges the current House map fails to meet state constitutional requirements that districts be compact and allow elections to be “free and equal.” The outcome is elections that are “rigged” to favor Democratic candidates. Republicans want the court to invalidate the maps and appoint a special master to draw new district boundaries.
Republicans are targeting this lawsuit to state courts after previously failing to block the maps in federal court. New data and a key expert witness, they say, make their state case more likely to succeed.
“Illinois House Republicans refuse to stand by while Democrats rig elections and manipulate the system to maintain their grip on power,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said at a news conference Tuesday.
The lawsuit comes after House Republicans failed to gain seats in the two election cycles since a new map was drawn in 2021 following the census and implemented for the 2022 election. Republicans lost five seats in 2022 and failed to win any back in 2024, leaving House Democrats with 78 members in the 118-member House.
Source: Capitol News Illinois