Prairie State Wire

Newly elected Gov. J.B. Pritzker appears to be backtracking on his campaign promise to veto any unfairly drawn legislative map.

After going on record last year with his pledge to veto any map that was drawn “in any way by legislators, political leaders or their staffs,” Pritzker’s rhetoric is now limited to just any map that he perceives to be unfair, the Illinois Republican Party recently noted. 

“Supporters of fair maps should be concerned that they must now rely on Pritzker’s personal determination of what’s ‘fair’ rather than a concrete pledge to veto gerrymandered legislative maps and enact independent redistricting reform,” Illinois Republican Party spokesman Aaron DeGroot said in a press release. 

Illinois GOP spokesman Aaron DeGroot

Despite Pritzker going as far as to suggest last year that he would be willing to support a constitutional amendment assuring fairer district maps, Republicans contend that his actions shouldn’t come as a surprise. The reason behind the governor’s flip-flop, DeGroot said, should be just as obvious.

“Voters always knew Pritzker had the support of Speaker [Mike] Madigan, but now we know why,” DeGroot was quoted in the release. “Pritzker is flip-flopping on fair maps so he can protect Madigan’s grip on power for another decade, overriding the will of Illinois voters.”

DeGroot highlighted the fact that it did not take Pritzker long to arrive at his new position. 

“A bipartisan, bicameral coalition of lawmakers in the General Assembly support fair maps,” he added. “The only people standing in the way of redistricting reform are Mike Madigan, John Cullerton, and now, J.B. Pritzker. It only took Pritzker 100 days in office to flip-flop on fair maps and side with Speaker Madigan over the people of Illinois.”