Update: Illinois Democrats Signal Redistricting Reluctance in Yet Another Setback for Hakeem Jeffries

We reported earlier on news out of Maryland concerning a redistricting push from Democrats that potentially would net them one seat, and how the idea has now effectively been shut down by Maryland Democrat Senate Leader Bill Ferguson (Baltimore City).

In a letter explaining his decision, Ferguson said it would cause more problems than it's worth, could potentially dilute the black vote in some districts, and - most revealingly - could lead to legal challenges on their existing congressional map, which they redrew in 2022 after Republicans challenged the previous one in the courts. That redrawn map led to a withdrawal of legal claims from all parties involved.

"It is important to note this, because the withdrawal of the challenges meant that Maryland’s highest court has never reviewed the current congressional map," Ferguson wrote (emphasis his). "That means that any redrawing of the current map could reopen the ability for someone to challenge the current map and give the court the opportunity to strike it down, or even worse, redraw the map itself."

It was clearly a blow for Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), who has been conferring with other blue states, including Illinois, to get them to follow Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom's lead in trying to gerrymander their respective states ahead of the 2026 midterms.

But as we also reported, there has been pushback from the left in the Prairie State as well, mainly from black Democrat state lawmakers who have said they won't tolerate any possibility of the black vote being diluted.

In an update to that story, and in seeming acknowledgment of those concerns, redistricting will not be taken up in the current veto session, with Democrat legislative leaders from both chambers expressly informing members this week that it wouldn't be:

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and state Senate President Don Harmon told their respective Democratic supermajority caucuses that the controversial remap effort championed by U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries won’t get a vote in Springfield this week as state legislators wrap up their fall veto session.
That means Gov. JB Pritzker would have to call lawmakers back to the state Capitol later this year or wait until their usual session early next year for Democrats to potentially change an already heavily gerrymandered Illinois congressional map that has them outnumbering Republicans 14-3. A proposed map hasn’t been released, but Dems think they can redraw the lines to create a 15th favorable district.

In addition to dealing a setback to Jeffries, this is going to be where Gov. JB Pritzker's "reluctant warrior" facade on redistricting in his already heavily gerrymandered state is likely to shatter right in the midst of him trying to portray himself as a "defender of democracy" ahead of a possible 2028 presidential bid.

The longer Pritzker waits to decide, the more challenging it will be to try and get it done, not just from a logistical/timeline standpoint, but also from one that will placate the Illinois Senate Black Caucus:

With the veto session scheduled to end this week, there would be a potentially tight timeline to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections. That’s because candidates for Congress are filing their paperwork to get on the ballot this week, and the primary Election Day is set for March 17.
[...]
The governor could call a special session before the new year [...] If not, a new legislative session typically starts in early January, but that would only leave a matter of weeks before early voting starts ahead of the March 17 primary election.

We'll keep you posted on developments. Stay tuned.

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